PR 3716 



1905 o. 























;•' A© 




r- ^ r 










^ ^ 










VV 



























COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY GERMANIC STUDIES 
Vol. II. No. I. 



/& 9£ 



LAURENCE STERNE 
IN GERMANY 



A Contribution to the Study of the 
Literary Relations of England and 
Germany in the Eighteenth Century 



by 



HARVEY WATERMAN THAYER, Ph.D. 

SOMETIME FELLOW IN GERMANIC LANGUAGES AND 
LITERATURES, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 




jReto $otk 



THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 
The Macmillan Company, Agents 

London : Macmillan & Co., Ltd. 

1905 

All rights reserved 






lyus 



CK 
CO f 



71^37/6 



//• 



; ' ' 



f> 






Copyright, 1905 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Printed from type September, 1905 



THE MASON PRESS 
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK 



NOTE 

Mr. Thayer has undertaken to write, in detail and from the 
sources, the history of Sterne's vogue in Germany. As thus 
broadly defined the task had not before been attempted, al- 
though phases of it had been treated, more or less thoroughly, 
in recent monographs. The work here submitted, the result 
of careful research in a number of American and European 
libraries, is in my judgment an interesting and valuable con- 
tribution to our knowledge of the literary relations of England 
and Germany at the time of the great renascence of German 
letters. 

Calvin Thomas. 

Columbia University, May, 1905. 



PREFACE 

The following study was begun in the autumn of 1901, and 
was practically finished now more than a year ago. Since 
its completion two works of interest to lovers of Sterne have 
been issued, Czerny's study of Sterne's influence upon Hippel 
and Jean Paul, a work which the present author had planned 
as a continuation of this book, and Prof. Cross's new definitive 
edition of Sterne. 

I desire here to express my thanks to Prof. W. H. Carpen- 
ter, Prof. Calvin Thomas and Prof. W. P. Trent, under whose 
guidance my last year of University residence was spent : their 
interest in my work was generous and unfailing; their admir- 
able scholarship has been and will continue to be an inspira- 
tion. I am indebted to Prof. Carpenter and Prof. Thomas for 
many helpful suggestions regarding the present work, and the 
latter especially has given freely of his valuable time to a con- 
sideration of my problems. I am grateful also to several other 
friends for helpful and kindly service, and to many librarians 
in this country and in Europe for their courtesy. 

New York, May 1. 1905. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter I. Introduction ...... i 

Chapter II. Sterne in Germany before the Publication 

of The Sentimental Journey ... 9 
Chapterlll. The Publication of The Sentimental Journey 35 
Chapter IV. Sterne in Germany after the Publication of 

The Sentimental Journey . . . .55 
Chapter V. Sterne's Influence in Germany . . .84 
Chapter VI. Imitators of Sterne . . . . .112 
Chapter VII. Opposition to Sterne and His Type of 

Sentimentalism . . . . .156 

Chapter VIII. Bibliography ...... 183 

Index .......... 196 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION 

The indebtedness of German culture to other peoples has 
been the theme of much painstaking investigation. The his- 
tory of German literature is, in large measure, the story of its 
successive periods of connection with the literatures of other 
lands, and hence scholars have sought with industry and in- 
sight to bound and explain such literary inter-relations. 

The latter half of the eighteenth century was a period of 
predominant English influence. The first half of the century 
had fostered this ascendency through the popularity of the 
moral weeklies, the religious epic, and the didactic poetry of 
Britain. Admiration for English ideals was used as a weapon 
to combat French dominion in matters of taste, till a kind of 
Anglomania spread, which was less absolute than the waning 
Gallomania had been, only in such measure as the nature of 
the imitated lay nearer the German spirit and hence allowed 
and cherished a parallel independence rather than demanded 
utter subjection. Indeed, the study of English masters may 
be said to have contributed more than any other external cause 
to the golden age of German letters ; to have worked with un- 
told beneficence in bringing faltering Germany to a conscious- 
ness of her own inherent possibilities. This fact of foreign 
awakening of national greatness through kinship of inborn 
racial characteristics removes the seeming inconsistency that 
British influence was paramount at the very time of Germany's 
most individual, most national, outburst. 

The German literary world concerned itself zealously with 
each new development across the channel. The German liter- 
ary periodicals were diligent and alert in giving their subscrib- 

1 1 



ers adequate intelligence concerning new books in England, 1 
and various journals 2 devoted exclusively to a retailing of Eng- 
lish thought for German readers are by their very existence 
eloquent testimony to the supreme interest in things British. 
Through the medium of these literary journals, intelligence 
concerning British literary interests was disseminated, and the 
way was thus prepared for the reception of the British authors 
themselves. Every English writer of eminence, every English 
literary movement was in some way or other echoed in the 
literature of the German fatherland. English authors were 
read in the original, and in numerous and popular translations. 
A German following is a well-nigh certain inference from an 
English success. Sometimes the growth of German apprecia- 
tion and imitation was immediate and contemporaneous, or 
nearly so, with the English interest, as in the case of the Ger- 
man enthusiasm for Bishop Percy's "Reliques." At other times 
it tarried behind the period of interest in England, and was 
gradual in its development. The suggestion that a book, 
especially a novel, was translated from the English was an 
assurance of its receiving consideration, and many original 
German novels were published under the guise of English 
translations. Hermes roguishly avoids downright falsehood, 
and yet avails himself of this popular trend by describing his 
"Miss Fanny Wilkes" upon the title page as "So gut als aus 
dem Englischen ubersetzt," and printing "so gut als" in very 
small type. Miiller in a letter 3 to Gleim, dated at Cassel, May 
27, 1 78 1, proposes to alter names in Liscow's works and to 

1 This is well illustrated by the words prefaced to the revived and retitled Frank- 
furter Gclchrte Anzeigcn, which state the purpose of the periodical: "Besonders 
wird man fur den Liebhaber der englischen Litteratur dahin sorgen, dass ihm kein 
einziger Artikel, der seiner Aufmerksamkeit wiirdig ist, entgehe, und die Preise 
der englischen Iiucher wo moglich allzcit bemcrken." {Frankfurter gel. Am., 1772, 
No. i, January 3.) 

2 F.lze, "Die Englische Sprache und Litteratur in Deutschland," gives what pur- 
ports to be a complete list of these German-English periodicals in chronological 

lut he begins his register with Eschenburg's Brittisches Museum fur die 
Deutschen, 1777-81, thus failing to mention the more significant, because earlier, 
journals: die Brittische Bibliothek, which appeared first in 1759 in Leipzig, 
edited by Karl Wilhelm Miiller: and Bremisches Magazin zur Ausbreitung der Wis- 

ften, Kiiustc und Tugend, Von cinigen Liebhabem derselben mehrcntheils 
aus den Englischen Monatsschriften gesammelt und herausgegeben, Bremen and 

■ l 7S7-i766> when the Ncues Bremisches Magazin begins. 
: "riefe deutscher Gelehrten aus Gleim's Nachlass. Bd. II, p. 213. 



publish his books as an English translation : "Germany would 
read him with delight," he says, and Gleim, in his reply, finds 
the idea "splendid." Out of this one reads clearly how the 
Germany of that time was hanging on the lips of England. 

As has been suggested, conscious or unconscious imitation 
in the home literature is the unavoidable result of admiration 
for the foreign ; imitation of English masters is written large 
on this period of German letters. Germany is especially in- 
debted to the stirring impulse of the English novel. 

The intellectual development of a people is observable in its 
successive periods of interest in different kinds of narration, 
in its attitude toward the relation of fictitious events. The 
interest in the extraordinary always precedes that in the or- 
dinary ; the unstored mind finds pleasure only in the unusual. 
An appreciation of the absorbing, vital interest of everyday ex- 
istence is the accomplishment of reflective training, and be- 
tokens the spiritualized nature. Yet it must be observed in 
passing that the crude interest of unschooled ignorance, and 
undeveloped taste in the grotesque, the monstrous, the unreal, 
is not the same as the intellectual man's appreciation of the 
unreal in imagination and fancy. The German novel had 
passed its time of service under the wild, extraordinary and 
grotesque. The crudities of such tales of adventure were soft- 
ened and eliminated by the culturing influence of formal classi- 
cism and by a newly won admiration for the everyday element in 
life, contemporaneous with and dependent upon the gradual 
appreciation of middle-class worth. At this point the English 
novel stepped in as a guide, and the gradual shaping of the 
German novel in the direction of an art-form is due primarily 
to the prevailing admiration of English models. 

The novel has never been a characteristic method of German 
self-expression, while if any form of literary endeavor can be 
designated as characteristically English, the novel may claim 
this distinction; that is, more particularly the novel as distin- 
guished from the romance. "Robinson Crusoe" (1719) united 
the elements of the extraordinary and the everyday, being the 
practical, unromantic account of a remarkable situation; and its 
extensive vogue in Germany, the myriad confessed imitati : as, 



may be said to form a kind of transition of interests. In it the 
commonplace gains interest through the extraordinary situa- 
tion. Such an awakening assures a certain measure of interest 
remaining over for the detailed relation of the everyday activi- 
ties of life, when removed from the exceptional situation. 
Upon this vantage ground the novel of everyday life was built. 
Near the mid-century comes another mighty influence from 
England, Richardson, who brings into the narration of middle- 
class, everyday existence, the intense analysis of human sensi- 
bilities. Richardson taught Germany to remodel her theories 
of heroism, her whole system of admirations, her conception 
of deserts. Rousseau's voice from France spoke out a stirring 
appeal for the recognition of human feelings. Fielding, 
though attacking Richardson's exaggeration of manner, and 
opposing him in his excess of emotionalism, yet added a force- 
ful influence still in favor of the real, present and ordinary, as 
exemplified in the lives of vigorous human beings. 

England's leadership in narrative fiction, the superiority of 
the English novel, especially the humorous novel, which was 
tacitly acknowledged by these successive periods of imitation, 
when not actually declared by the acclaim of the critic and the 
preference of the reading public, has been attributed quite 
generally to the freedom of life in England and the compara- 
tive thraldom in Germany. Gervinus 1 enlarges upon this 
point, the possibility in Britain of individual development in 
character and in action as compared with the constraint obtain- 
ing in Germany, where originality, banished from life, was 
permissible only in opinion. His ideas are substantially iden- 
tical with those expressed many years before in an article in 
the Neue Bibliothck der schonen Wissenschaften- entitled 
"Ueber die Laune." Lichtenberg in his brief essay, "Ueber den 
deutschen Roman," 3 is undoubtedly more than half serious in 
his arraignment of the German novel and his acknowledgment 

1 "Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung," V, pp. 184 ft". The comparative in- 
feriority of the German novel is discussed by l'Abbe Denina in "La Prusse Lit- 
teraire sous Frederic II," Berlin, i7gi. Vol. I, pp. 112 ft. See also Julian 
Schmidt, "Bilder aus dem geistigen Leben unserer Zeit." Leipzig, 1870. IV, pp. 
270 ft. 

2 III, pp. 1 ft. 

3 Yermischte Schriften, II, p. 215. 



of the English novelist's advantage : the trend of this satirical 
skit coincides with the opinion above outlined, the points he 
makes being characteristic of his own humorous bent. That 
the English sleep in separate apartments, with big chimneys 
in their bedchambers, that they have comfortable post-chaises 
with seats facing one another, where all sorts of things 
may happen, and merry inns for the accommodation of the 
traveler, — these features of British life are represented as af- 
fording a grateful material to the novelist, compared with 
which German life offers no corresponding opportunity. 
Humor, as a characteristic element of the English novel, has 
been felt to be peculiarly dependent upon the fashion of life 
in Britain. Blankenburg, another eighteenth-century student 
of German literary conditions, in his treatise on the novel 1 , has 
similar theories concerning the sterility of German life as com- 
pared with English, especially in the production of humorous 
characters 2 . He asserts theoretically that humor (Laune) 
should never be employed in a novel of German life, because 
"Germany's political institutions and laws, and our nice 
Frenchified customs would not permit this humor." "On the 
one side," he goes on to say, "is Gothic formality ; on the other, 
frivolity." Later in the volume (p. 191) he confines the use 
of humorous characters to subordinate roles ; otherwise, he 
says, the tendency to exaggeration would easily awaken dis- 
pleasure and disgust. Yet in a footnote, prompted by some 
misgiving as to his theory, Blankenburg admits that much is 
possible to genius and cites English novels where a humorous 
character appears with success in the leading part ; thus the 
theorist swerves about, and implies the lack of German genius 
in this regard. Eberhard in his "Handbuch der Aesthetik," 3 

1 "Versuch iiber den Roman." Frankfort and Leipzig, 1774, p. 528. This 
study contains frequent allusions to Sterne and occasional quotation from his 
works, pp. 48, 191, 193, 200, 210, 273, 351, 365, 383, 426. 

2 There is a similar tribute to English humor in "Ueber die moralische Schonheit 
und Philosophic des Lebens." Altenburg, 1772, p. 199. Compare also Herder's 
opinion in "Ideen zur Geschichte und Kritik der Poesie und bildenden Kiinste," 
1794-96, No. 49, in "Abhandlungen und Briefe iiber schone Literatur und Kunst." 
Tubingen, 1806, I, pp. 375-380; compare also passages in his "Fragmente" and 
"Waldchen." 

3 Second edition, Halle, 1807, II, pp. 309 ff. The definition of humor and the 
perplexing question as to how far it is identical with "Laune," have received con- 



in a rather unsatisfactory and confused study of humor, ex- 
presses opinions agreeing with those cited above, and states that 
in England the feeling of independence sanctions the surrender 
of the individual to eccentric humor: hence England has 
produced more humorists than all the rest of the world com- 
bined. There is, however, at least one voice raised to explain 
in another way this deficiency of humor in German letters. A 
critic in the Bibliothck der schonen Wissenschaften 1 attributes 
this lack not to want of original characters but to a lack of 
men like Cervantes, Ben Jonson, Butler, Addison, Fielding. 

There is undoubtedly some truth in both points of view, but 
the defects of the eighteenth century German novel are due 
in larger measure to the peculiar mental organization of Ger- 
man authorship than to lack of interesting material in German 
life. The German novel was crushed under the weight of ped- 
antry and pedagogy. Hillebrand strikes the root of the mat- 
ter when he says, 2 "We are all schoolmasters, even Hippel 
could not get away from the tutorial attitude." The inborn 
necessity of German culture is to impart information, to seek 
recruits for the maintenance of some idea, to exploit some po- 
litical, educational, or moral theory. This irresistible impulse 
has left its trail over German fiction. The men who wrote 
novels, as soon as they began to observe, began to theorize, and 
the results of this speculation were inevitably embodied in their 
works. They were men of mind rather than men of deeds, 
who minimized the importance of action and exaggerated the 
reflective, the abstract, the theoretical, the inner life of man. 
Hettner, 3 with fine insight, points to the introduction to "Se- 
baldus Nothanker" as exhibiting the characteristic of this 
epoch of fiction. Speculation was the hero's world, and in 
speculation lay for him the important things of life ; he knew 
not the real world, hence speculation concerning it was his oc- 
cupation. Consequential connection of events with character 

siderable attention at the hands of aesthetic critics; compare, for example, Lessing 
in the "Hamburgische Dramaturgic" 

1 VII. p. 353. 1761. 

- "Deutsche Nationalliteratur," II, p. 535. Hamburg, 1850. 

s "Geschichte der deutschen Literatur im achtzehnten Jahrhundert," III, 1, 
pp. 363 ff. 



makes the English novel the mirror of English life. Failure 
to achieve such a union makes the German novel a mirror of 
speculative opinions concerning life. 

Hence we have Germany in the mid-eighteenth century pre- 
pared to accept and adopt any literary dogma, especially when 
stamped with an English popularity, which shall represent an 
interest rather in extraordinary characters and unusual opin- 
ions than in astounding adventure ; which shall display a 
knowledge of human feeling and foster the exuberant expres- 
sion of it. 

Beside the devotees of any literary fashion are those who 
analyze philosophically the causes, and forecast the probable 
results of such a following. Thinking Germany became ex- 
ercised over these facts of successive intellectual and literary 
dependence, as indicative of national limitations or foreboding 
disintegration. And thought was accordingly directed to the 
study of the influence of imitation upon the imitator, the effects 
of the imitative process upon national characteristics, as well as 
the causes of imitation, the fundamental occasion for national 
bondage in matters of life and letters. The part played by Dr. 
Edward Young's famous epistle to Richardson, "Conjectures on 
Original Composition" (London, 1759), in this struggle for 
originality is considerable. The essay was reprinted, translated 
and made the theme of numerous treatises and discussions. 1 
One needs only to mention the concern of Herder, as displayed 

1 See Introduction to "Briefe iiber Merkwurdigkeiten der Litteratur" in Seuf- 
fert's Deutsche Litteraturdenkmale des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts. The literature of 
this study of imitation in the Germany of the second half of the eighteenth century 
is considerable. The effort of much in the Litteratur-Briefe may be mentioned 
as contributing to this line of thought. The prize question of the Berlin Academy 
for 1788 brought forth a book entitled: "Wie kann die Nachahmung sowohl alter 
als neuer fremden Werke der schonen Wissenschaften des vaterlandischen 
Geschmack entwickeln und vervollkommnen?" by Joh. Chr. Schwabe, professor in 
Stuttgart. (Berlin, pp. 120; reviewed in Allg. Litt. Zeitung. 1790. I, pp. 632-640.) 
Perhaps the first English essay upon German imitation of British masters is that 
in the Critical Journal, Vol. Ill, which was considered of sufficient moment for a 
German translation. See Morgenblatt, I, Nr. 162, July 8, 1807. A writer in the 
Auserlesene Bibliothek der neusten deutschen Litteratur (Lemgo, 1772-3), in an 
article entitled "Vom Zustande des Geschmacks beim deutschen Publikum," traces 
the tendency to imitate to the German capacity for thinking rather than for feeling. 
(Ill, pp. 683 ff.) "Das deutsche Publikum," he says, "scheint dazu bestimmt zu 
seyn, nachzuahmen, nachzuurtheilen, nachzuempfinden." Justus Moser condemns 
his fellow countrymen soundly for their empty imitation. See fragment published 
in "Sammtliche Werke," edited by B. R. Abeken. Berlin, 1858. IV, pp. 104-5. 



in the "Fragmente iiber die neuere deutsche Litteratur," and 
his statement 1 with reference to the predicament as realized by 
thoughtful minds may serve as a summing up of that part of 
the situation. "Seit der Zeit ist keine Klage lauter and hau- 
figer als iiber den Mangel von Originalen, von Genies, von 
Erfindern, Beschwerden iiber die Nachahmungs- und gedank- 
enlose Schreibsucht der Deutschen." 

This thoughtful study of imitation itself was accompanied 
by more or less pointed opposition to the heedless importation 
of foreign views, and protests, sometimes vigorous and keen, 
sometimes flimsy and silly, were entered against the slavish 
imitation of things foreign. Endeavor was turned toward the 
establishment of independent ideals, and the fostering of a taste 
for the characteristically national in literature, as opposed to 
frank imitation and open borrowing. 2 

The story of Laurence Sterne in Germany is an individual 
example of sweeping popularity, servile admiration, extensive 
imitation and concomitant opposition. 

1 Herder's sammtliche Werke, edited by B. Suphan, Berlin, Weidman, 1877, I, 
254. In the tenth fragment (second edition) he says the Germans have imitated 
other nations, "so dass Nachahmer beinahe zum Beiwort und zur zweiten Sylbe 
unseres Xamens geworden." See II, p. 51. Many years later Herder does not 
seem to view this period of imitation with such regret as the attitude of these earlier 
criticisms would forecast. In the "Ideen zur Geschichte und Kritik der Poesie und 
bildenden Kiinste," 1794-96, he states with a burst of enthusiasm over the adapta- 
bility of the German language that he regards imitation as no just reproach, for 
thereby has Germany become immeasurably the richer. 

2 The kind of praise bestowed on Hermes's "Sophiens Reise" is a case in point; 
it was greeted as the first real German novel, the traces of English imitation being 
hardly noticeable. See Magasin der deutschen Critik, Vol. I, St. 2, pp. 245-251. 
1772, signed "Kl." Sattler's "Friederike" was accorded a similar welcome of Ger- 
man patriotism; see Magazin der deutschen Critik III, St. 1, p. 233. The 
"Litterarische Reise durch Deutschland" (Leipzig, 1786, p. 82) calls "Sophiens 
Reise" the first original German novel. See also the praise of Von Thummel's 
"Wilhelmine" and "Sophiens Reise" in Blankenburg's "Versuch iiber den Roman," 
pp. 237-9. Previously Germans had often hesitated to lay the scenes of their 
novels in Germany, and in many others English characters traveling or residing 
in Germany supply the un-German element. 



CHAPTER II 

STERNE IN GERMANY BEFORE THE PUBLICA- 
TION OF THE SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY 

It is no exaggeration to assert that the works of Yorick 
obtained and still retain a relatively more substantial position 
of serious consideration and recognized merit in France and 
Germany than in the countries where Sterne's own tongue is 
spoken. 1 His place among the English classics has, from the 
foreign point of view, never been a dubious question, a matter 
of capricious taste and unstable ideals. His peculiar message, 
whether interpreted and insisted upon with clearness of insight, 
or blindness of misunderstanding, played its not unimportant 
part in certain developments of continental literatures, and his 
station in English literature, as viewed from a continental 
standpoint, is naturally in part the reflex of the magnitude of 
his influence in the literature of France and Germany, rather 
than an estimate obtained exclusively from the actual worth of 
his own accomplishment, and the nature of his own service as 
a leader and innovator in English letters. 

Sterne's career in German literature, the esteem in which 
his own works have been held, and the connection between 
the sentimental, whimsical, contradictory English clergyman 
and his German imitators have been noted, generally speaking, 
by all the historians of literature ; and several monographs and 
separate articles have been published on single phases of the 
theme. 2 As yet, however, save for the investigations which 
treat only of two or three authors, there has been hardly more 

1 A reviewer in the Frankfurter Gel. Am., as early as 1774, asserts that Sterne 
had inspired more droll and sentimental imitations in Germany than even in Eng- 
land. (Apr. s, 1 774.) 

3 See Bibliography for list of books giving more or less extended accounts of 
Sterne's influence. 



10 

than the general statement of the facts, often inadequate, in- 
complete, and sometimes inexact. 

Sterne's period of literary activity falls in the sixties, the 
very heyday of British supremacy in Germany. The fame of 
Richardson was hardly dimmed, though Musaus ridiculed his 
extravagances in "Grandison der Zweite'' (1760) at the be- 
ginning of the decade. In 1762-66 Wieland's Shakespeare 
translation appeared, and his original works of the period, 
"Agathon," begun in 1761, and "Don Silvio von Rosalva," 
published in 1764, betray the influence of both Richardson and 
Fielding. Ebert (1760 — ) revised and republished his transla- 
tion of Young's "Night Thoughts," which had attained popu- 
larity in the previous decade. Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wake- 
field" (1766) aroused admiration and enthusiasm. To this 
time too belongs Ossian's mighty voice. As early as 1762 the 
first bardic translations appeared, and Denis's work came out in 
1768. Percy's "Reliques," published in England in 1765, were 
extensively read and cited, a stimulating force to parallel Ger- 
man activity. A selection from the "Reliques" appeared in 
Gottingen in 1767. 

The outlook maintained in Germany for the worthy in 
British thought, the translatable, the reproducible, was so vig- 
ilant and, in general, so discerning that the introduction of 
Yorick into Germany was all but inevitable. The nature of 
the literary relations then obtaining and outlined above would 
forecast and almost necessitate such an adoption, and his very 
failure to secure recognition would demand an explanation. 

Before the publication of Tristram Shandy it would be futile 
to seek for any knowledge of Sterne on German soil. He had 
published, as is well known, two sermons preached on oc- 
casions of note; and a satirical skit, with kindly purpose, en- 
titled "The History of a Good Warm Watchcoat," had been 
written, privately circulated, and then suppressed; yet he 
was an unknown and comparatively insignificant English 
clergyman residing in a provincial town, far, in those days 
very far, from those centers of life which sent their enlighten- 
ment over the channel to the continent. His fame was purely 
local. His sermons had, without doubt, rendered the vicar of 



11 

Sutton a rather conspicuous ecclesiastic throughout that re- 
gion; his eccentricities were presumably the talk of neighbor- 
ing parishes ; the cathedral town itself probably tittered at his 
drolleries, and chattered over his sentiments; his social graces 
undoubtedly found recognition among county families and in 
provincial society, and his reputation as a wit had probably 
spread in a vague, uncertain, transitory fashion beyond the 
boundaries of the county. Yet the facts of local notoriety and 
personal vogue are without real significance save in the light 
of later developments ; and we may well date his career in the 
world of books from the year 1760, when the London world 
began to smile over the first volumes of Tristram Shandy. 
From internal evidence in these early volumes it is possible to 
note with some assurance the progress of their composition 
and the approximate time of their completion. In his way- 
ward, fitful way, and possibly for his own amusement more 
than with dreams of fame and fortune, 1 Sterne probably began 
the composition of Shandy in January, 1759, and the comple- 
tion of the first installment is assigned to the summer or early 
autumn of that year. At the end of the year 2 the first edition 
of the first two volumes was issued in York, bearing the 
imprint of John Hinxham. Dodsley and Cooper undertook 
the sale of the volumes in London, though the former had de- 
clined to be responsible for the publication. They were ready 
for delivery in the capital on the first day of the new year 
1760. Sterne's fame was immediate; his personal triumph 
was complete and ranks with the great successes in the history 
of our literature. On his arrival in London in March, the 
world aristocratic, ecclesiastic, and literary was eager to re- 
ceive the new favorite, and his career of bewildering social en- 

1 Sterne did, to be sure, assert in a letter (Letters, I, p. 34) that he wrote "not 
to be fed but to be famous." Yet this was after this desire had been fulfilled, and, 
as the expression agrees with the tone and purpose of the letter in which it is 
found, it does not seem necessary to place too much weight upon it. It is very 
probable in view of evidence collected later that Sterne began at least to write 
Tristram as a pastime in domestic misfortune. The thirst for fame may have 
developed in the progress of the composition. 

2 Fitzgerald says "end of December," Vol. I, p. 116, and the volumes were re- 
viewed in the December number of the Monthly Review, 1759 (Vol. XXI, pp. 561- 
571), though without any mention of the author's name. This review mentions no 
other publisher than Cooper. 



12 

joyment, vigorous feasting and noteworthy privilege began. 
"No one", says Forster, "was so talked of in London this year 
and no one so admired as the tall, thin, hectic-looking York- 
shire parson." 1 From this time on until his death Sterne was 
a most conspicuous personage in English society, a striking, 
envied figure in English letters. 

And yet it was some time before Germany learned of the 
new prodigy : for reasons which will be treated later, the 
growth of the Sterne cult in Germany was delayed, so that 
Yorick was in the plenitude of his German fame when England 
had begun to look askance at him with critical, fault-finding 
eye, or to accord him the more damning condemnation of for- 
getfulness. 

The first mention of Sterne's name in Germany may well be 
the brief word in the Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Corre- 
spondent 2 for January 19, 1762, in a letter from the regular 
London correspondent, dated January 8. In a tone of particu- 
larity which would mark the introduction of a new and strange 
personality into his communications, the correspondent states 
the fact of Sterne's departure for Paris in pursuit of lost 
health. This journal may further be taken as an example of 
those which devoted a remarkable amount of space to British 
affairs, since it was published in the North German seaport 
town, where the mercantile connection with Britain readily 
fostered the exchange of other than purely commercial com- 
modities. And yet in Hamburg Sterne waited full two years 
for a scanty recognition even of his English fame. 

In the fourth year after the English publication of Shandy 
comes the first attempt to transplant Sterne's gallery of orig- 
inals to German shores. This effort, of rather dubious suc- 
cess, is the Ziickert translation of Tristram Shandy, a render- 
ing weak and inaccurate, but nevertheless an important first 
step in the German Shandy cult. Johann Friedrich Ziickert, 3 
the translator, was born December 19, 1739, and died in Berlin 

1 Quoted by Fitzgerald, Vol. I, p. 126. 

2 The full title of this paper was Staats- und gelehrte Zeitung des Ham- 
burgischen unpartheyischen Corrcspondenten. 

8 Meusel: Lexicon der vom Jahr 1750 bis 1800 verstorbencn teutschen Schrift- 
steller. Bd. XV. (Leipzig bey Fleischer) 1816, pp, 472-474. 



13 

May i, 1778. He studied medicine at the University of Frank- 
furt an der Oder, became a physician in Berlin, but, because of 
bodily disabilities, devoted himself rather to study and society 
than to the practice of his profession. His publications are 
fairly numerous and deal principally with medical topics, es- 
pecially with the question of foods. In the year after the ap- 
pearance of his Shandy translation, Ziickert published an essay 
which indicates the direction of his tastes and gives a clue to 
his interest in Tristram. It was entitled "Medizinische und 
Moralische Abhandlung von den Leidenschaften," 1 and dis- 
closes a tendency on the part of the author to an analysis of the 
passions and moods of man, an interest in the manner of their 
generation, and the method of their working. This treatise 
was quite probably written, or conceived, while its author was 
busied with Shandy, and his division of the temperaments 
(p. 53) into the sanguine or warm moist, the choleric or warm 
dry, the phlegmatic or cold moist, and the melancholy or cold 
dry, is not unlike some of Walter Shandy's half-serious, half- 
jesting scientific theories, though, to be sure, it falls in with 
much of the inadequate and ill-applied terminology of the time. 
Ziickert's translation of the first six parts 2 of Tristram 
Shandy appeared in 1763, and bore the imprint of the pub- 
lisher Lange, Berlin und Stralsund. The title read "Das 
Leben und die Meynungen des Herrn Tristram Shandy,'" the 
first of the long series of "Leben und Meynungen" which 
flooded the literature of the succeeding decades, this becoming 
a conventional title for a novel. It is noteworthy that until 
the publication of parts VII and VIII in 1765, there is no 
mention of the real author's name. To these later volumes 
the translator prefaces a statement which contains some signifi- 
cant intelligence concerning his aim and his interpretation of 
Sterne's underlying purpose. He says he would never have 
ventured on the translation of so ticklish a book if he had fore- 
seen the difficulties ; that he believed such a translation would 
be a real service to the German public, and that he never 
fancied the critics could hold him to the very letter, as in the 

1 Berlin, bei August Mylius. 1764. 

2 Behmer (L. Sterne und C. M. Wieland, p. 15) seems to be unaware of the 
translations of the following parts, and of the authorship. 



14 

rendering of a classic author. He confesses to some errors 
and promises corrections in a possible new edition. He begs 
the public to judge the translation in accord with its purpose 
"to delight and enliven the public and to acquaint the Germans 
with a really wonderful genius." To substantiate his state- 
ment relative to the obstacles in his way, he outlines in a few 
words Sterne's peculiar, perplexing style, as regards both use 
of language and. the arrangement of material. He conceives 
Sterne's purpose as a desire to expose to ridicule the follies of 
his countrymen and to incorporate serious truths into the heart 
of his jesting. 

Since the bibliographical facts regarding the subsequent 
career of this Ziickert translation have been variously mangled 
and misstated, it may be well, though it depart somewhat from 
the regular chronological order of the narrative, to place this 
information here in connection with the statement of its first 
appearance. The translation, as published in 1763, contained 
only the first six parts of Sterne's work. In 1765 the seventh 
and eighth parts were added, and in 1767 a ninth appeared, 
but the latter was a translation of a spurious English original. 1 
In 1769, the shrewd publisher began to issue a new and 
slightly altered edition of the translation, which bore, however, 
on the title page ''nach einer neuen Uebersetzung" and the im- 
print, Berlin und Stralsund bey Gottlieb August Langen, Parts 
I and II being dated 1769; Parts III and IV, 1770; Parts V, 
VI, VII and VIII, 1771 ; Part IX, 1772. Volumes III-VIII 
omit Stralsund as a joint place of publication. In 1773, when 
it became noised abroad that Bode, the sucessful and honored 
translator of the Sentimental Journey, was at work upon a 
German rendering of Shandy, Lange once more forced his 
wares upon the market, this time publishing the Ziickert trans- 
lation with the use of Wieland's then influential name on the 
title page, "Auf Anrathen des Hrn. Hofraths Wielands ver- 

1 This attempt to supply a ninth volume of Tristram Shandy seems to have been 
overlooked. A spurious third volume is mentioned in the Natl. Diet, of Biography 
and is attributed to John Carr. This ninth volume is however noticed in the 
London Magazine, 1766, p. 691, with accompanying statement that it is "not by the 
author of the eight volumes." The genuine ninth volume is mentioned and quoted 
in this magazine in later issues, 1767, p. 78, 206. 



15 

fasst." Wieland was indignant at this misuse of his name and 
repudiated all connection with this "new translation." This 
edition was probably published late in 1773, as Wieland in his 
review in the Merkur gives it that date, but the volumes them- 
selves bear the date of 1774. 1 We learn from the Merkur (VI. 
363) that Zuckert was not responsible for the use of Wieland's 
name. 

These are the facts of the case. Meusel in his account of 
Zuckert gives the date of the first edition as 1774, and the 
second edition is registered but the date is left blank. Jordens, 
probably depending on the information given by the review in 
the Merkur, to which reference is made, assigns 1773 as the 
date. This edition, as is shown above, is really the third. 

This Zuckert translation is first reviewed by the above men- 
tioned Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent in the 
issue for January 4, 1764. The review, however, was not cal- 
culated to lure the German reader of the periodical to a perusal 
either of the original, or of the rendering in question : it is con- 
cerned almost exclusively with a summary of the glaring inac- 
curacies in the first nineteen pages of the work and with cor- 
rect translations of the same ; and it is in no sense of the word 
an appreciation of the book. The critic had read Shandy in 
the original, and had believed that no German hack translator 2 
would venture a version in the language of the fatherland. 
It is a review which shows only the learning of the reviewer, 
displays the weakness of the translator, but gives no idea of the 
nature of the book itself, not even a glimpse of the critic's own 
estimate of the book, save the implication that he himself had 
understood the original, though many Englishmen even were 
staggered by its obtuseness and failed to comprehend the sub- 
tlety of its allusion. It is criticism in the narrowest, most ar- 
rogant sense of the word, destructive instead of informing, 
blinding instead of illuminating. It is noteworthy that Sterne's 
name is nowhere mentioned in the review, nor is there a hint 
of Tristram's English popularity. The author of this un- 

1 This edition is reviewed also in Almanack der deutschen Musen, 1774, p. 97. 

2 "Kein Deutscher, welcher das Uebersetzen aus fremden Sprachen als ein 
Handwerk ansieht." 



16 

signed criticism is not to be located with certainty, yet it may 
well have been Bode, the later apostle of Sterne-worship in 
Germany. Bode was a resident of Hamburg at this time, was 
exceptionally proficient in English and, according to Jordens 1 
and Schroder, 2 he was in 1762-3 the editor of the Hamburg- 
ischer unpartlieyischer Correspondent. The precise date when 
Bode severed his connection with the paper is indeterminate, 
yet this, the second number of the new year 1764, may have 
come under his supervision even if his official connection ended 
exactly with the close of the old year. To be sure, when Bode 
ten years later published his own version of Shandy, he trans- 
lated, with the exception of two rather insignificant cases, 
none of the passages verbally the same as the reviewer in this 
journal, but it would be unreasonable to attach any great 
weight to this fact. Eight or nine years later, when undertak- 
ing the monumental task of rendering the whole of Shandy 
into German, it is not likely that Bode would recall the old 
translations he had made in this review or concern himself 
about them. A brief comparison of the two sets of transla- 
tions suggests that the critic was striving merely for accuracy 
in correcting the errors of Ziickert, and that Bode in his for- 
mal translation shows a riper and more certain feeling for the 
choice of words ; the effect of purposeful reflection is unmis- 
takable. Of course this in no way proves Bode to have been 
the reviewer, but the indications at least allow the probability. 

As was promised in the preface to Parts VII and VIII, to 
which reference has already been made, the new edition was 
regarded as an opportunity for correction of errors, but this 
bettering is accomplished with such manifest carelessness and 
ignorance as to suggest a further possibility, that the publisher, 
Lange, eager to avail himself of the enthusiasm for Sterne, 
which burst out on the publication of the Sentimental Journey, 
thrust this old translation on the public without providing for 
thorough revision, or complete correction of flagrant errors. 
The following quotations will suffice to demonstrate the inad- 
equacy of the revision : 

1 1, p. in. 

2 "Lexicon der Hamburgischen Schriftsteller," Hamburg, 1851-1883. 



17 

ORIGINAL ZUECKERT TRANSLATION 

I, p. 6 : Well, you may take my P. 5 : Gut, ich gebe euch mein 

word that nine parts in ten of a Wort, dass neun unter zehnmal 
man's sense or his nonsense, eines jeden Witz oder Dummheit. 

(The second edition replaces 
"Witz" by "Verstand," which does 
not alter the essential error of the 
rendering.) 
P. 7 : The minutest philoso- "Die strengsten Philosophen" 

phers. remains unchanged in second edi- 

tion. 
P. 7 : Being guarded and cir- P. 3 : "Ein Wesen das eben- 

cumscribed with rights. falls seine Vorziige hat" is un- 

altered. 
P. 8 : A most unaccountable Meine seltsame Ungeschicklich- 

obliquity in the manner of setting keit meinen Kopf zu recht zu 
up my top. machen. 

This last astounding translation is retained in the second edi- 
tion in spite of the reviewers' ridicule, but the most nonsensical 
of all the renderings, whereby "the momentum of the coach 
horse was so great" becomes "der Augenblick des Kutsch- 
pferdes war so gross" is fortunately corrected. 1 

These examples of slipshod alteration or careless retention 
contrast quite unfavorably with the attitude of the translator 
in the preface to parts VII and VIII, in which he confesses to 
the creeping in of errors in consequence of the perplexities of 
the rendering, and begs for "reminders and explanations" of 
this and that passage, thereby displaying an eagerness to ac- 
cept hints for emendation. This is especially remarkable when 
it is noted that he has in the second edition not even availed 
himself of the corrections given in the Hamburgischer unpar- 
theyischer Correspondent, and has allowed some of the most 
extraordinary blunders to stand. These facts certainly favor 
the theory that Ziickert himself had little or nothing to do 
with the second edition and its imperfect revision. This sup- 
position finds further evidence in the fact that the ninth part 
of Shandy, as issued by Lange in the second (1772) and third 
(1774) editions, was still a translation of the spurious English 
volume, although the fraud was well known and the genuine 

1 Tristram Shandy, I, p. 107, and Zuckert's translation, I, p. 141. 
2 



18 

volume was read and appreciated. Of this genuine last part 
Dr. Zuckert never made a translation. It may be remarked in 
passing that a translation bristling with such errors, blunders 
which at times degrade the text into utter nonsense, could 
hardly be an efficient one in spreading appreciation of Shandy. 

A little more than a year after the review in the Ham- 
burgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent, which has been 
cited, the Jenaische Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen in the 
number dated March I, 1765, treats Sterne's masterpiece in its 
German disguise. This is the first mention of Sterne's book 
in the distinctively literary journals. The tone of this review 
is further that of an introducer of the new, and the critique is 
manifestly inserted in the paper as an account of a new book. 
The reviewer is evidently unaware of the author's name, since 
the words which accompany the title, from the English, are 
nowhere elucidated, and no hint of authorship, or popularity 
in England, or possible far-reaching appeal in Germany is 
traceable. The idea of the hobby-horse is new to the reviewer 
and his explanation of it implies that he presumed Sterne's use 
of the term would be equally novel to the readers of the period- 
ical. His compliment to the translation indicates further that 
he was unacquainted with the review in the Hamburgischer 
unpartheyischer Correspondent. 

A little more than a year later, June 13, 1766, this same 
journal, under the caption "London," reviews the Becket and 
de Hondt four-volume edition of the "Sermons of Mr. 
Yorick." The critic thinks a warning necessary: "One 
should not be deceived by the title : the author's name is not 
Yorick," and then he adds the information of the real author- 
ship. This is a valid indication that, in the opinion of the re- 
viewer, the name Yorick would not be sufficiently linked in 
the reader's mind with the personality of Sterne and the fame 
of his first great book, to preclude the possibility, or rather 
probability, of error. This state of affairs is hardly reconcil- 
able with any widespread knowledge of the first volumes of 
Shandy. The criticism of the sermons which follows implies, 
on the reviewer's part, an acquaintance with Sterne, with Tris- 
tram, a "whimsical and roguish novel which would in our land 



19 

be but little credit to a clergyman," and with the hobby-horse 
idea. The spirit of the review is, however, quite possibly 
prompted, and this added information supplied, by the London 
correspondent, and retold only with a savor of familiarity by 
this critic ; for at the end of this communication this London 
correspondent is credited with the suggestion that quite prob- 
ably the sermons were never actually preached. 

The first mention of Sterne in the Gottingische Gelehrte An- 
zeigen is in the number for November 15, 1764. In the report 
from London is a review 1 of the fifth edition of Yorick's Ser- 
mons, published by Dodsley in two volumes, 1764. To judge 
by the tenor of his brief appreciation, the reviewer does not 
anticipate any knowledge of Sterne whatsoever or of Shandy 
among the readers of the periodical. He states that the ser- 
mons had aroused much interest in England because of their 
authorship "by Lorenz Sterne, author of Tristram Shandy, a 
book in which a remarkable humor is exhibited." He men- 
tions also that the sermon on the conscience had already been 
published in the novel, but is ignorant of its former and first 
appearance. Three years later, July 20, 1767, 2 the same peri- 
odical devotes a long critical review to the four-volume Lon- 
don edition of the sermons. The publisher's name is not 
given, but it is the issue of Becket and de Hondt. The re- 
stating of elementary information concerning authorship is 
indicative of the tardy progress made by Yorick in these years 
in gaining recognition in Germany. The reviewer thinks it 
even necessary to add that Yorick is the name of the clergyman 
who plays a waggish (possierliche) role in Shandy, and that 
Sterne cherished the opinion that this designation on the title- 
page would be better known than his own name. 

In the meantime Swiss piety and Swiss devotion to things 
English had been instrumental in bringing out a translation of 
Sterne's sermons, 3 the first volume of which appeared in 1766. 

1 In this review and in the announcement of Sterne's death, this periodical 
refers to him as the Dean of York, a distinction which Sterne never enjoyed. 

2 1767, p. 691. The reference is given in the Register to 1753-1782 erroneously 
as p. 791. 

3 "Predigten von Laurenz Sterne oder Yorick." Zurich, bey Fuesslin & Comp, 
1766-69. 3 vols. 



20 

The Swiss translation was occasioned by its author's expecta- 
tion of interest in the sermons as sermons; this is in striking 
contrast to the motives which led to their original publication in 
England. The brief preface of the translator gives no infor- 
mation of Sterne, or of Shandy ; the translator states his rea- 
sons for the rendering, his own interest in the discourses, his 
belief that such sermons would not be superfluous in Germany, 
and his opinion that they were written for an increasing class 
of readers, "who, though possessed of taste and culture and 
laying claim to probity, yet for various reasons stand apart 
from moral instruction and religious observance." He also 
changed the original order of the sermons. The first part of 
this Swiss translation is reviewed in the Allgemeine deutsche 
Bibliothek in the first number of 1768, and hence before the 
Sentimental Journey had seen the light even in London. The 
review is characterized by unstinted praise : Sterne is congrat- 
ulated upon his deviation from the conventional in homiletical 
discourse, is commended as an excellent painter of moral char- 
acter and situations, though he abstains from the use of the 
common engines of eloquence. His narrative powers are also 
noted with approval and his ability to retain the attention of 
his hearers through clever choice of emphasized detail is men- 
tioned with appreciation. Yet in all this no reference is made 
to Sterne's position in English letters, a fact which could 
hardly have failed of comment, if the reviewer had been aware 
of it, especially in view of the relation of Sterne's popularity to 
the very existence of this published volume of sermons, or if it 
had been expected that the fact of authorship would awaken 
interest in any considerable number of readers. The tone of 
the review is further hardly reconcilable with a knowledge of 
Sterne's idiosyncrasies as displayed in Shandy. A brief con- 
sideration of the principles of book-reviewing would establish 
the fact indisputably that the mentioning of a former book, 
some hint of familiarity with the author by open or covert 
allusion, is an integral and inevitable part of the review of a 
later book. This review is the only mention of Sterne in this 



21 

magazine 1 before the publication of the Sentimental Journey. 
A comparison of this recension, narrow in outlook, bound, as 
it is, to the very book under consideration, with those of the 
second and third volumes of the sermons in the same maga- 
zine during the year 1770, 2 is an illuminating illustration of 
the sweeping change brought in by the Journey. In the latter 
critique we find appreciation of Yorick's characteristics, en- 
thusiastic acceptation of his sentiment, fond and familiar 
allusions to both Shandy and the Sentimental Journey. In the 
brief space of two years Sterne's sentimentalism had come 
into its own. 

The Brcmisches Magasin, 3 which was employed largely in 
publishing translations from English periodicals, and con- 
tained in each number lists, generally much belated, of new 
English books, noted in the third number for 1762, among the 
new books from April to December, 1760, Mr. Yorick's Ser- 
mons, published by Mr. Sterne, and then, as customary in 
these catalogues, translated the title into "Herrn Yorick's 
Predigten ans Licht gestellt von Hn. Sterne." Four years 
later, in the first volume of the Neues Bremisches Magazin, 4 
announcement is made of the third and fourth volumes of 
Yorick's Sermons. During this period sufficient intelligence 
concerning Sterne is current to warrant the additional state- 
ment that "This Mr. Sterne, the author of the strange book, 
Tristram Shandy, is the author himself." The notice closes 
with the naive but astounding information, "He took the name 
Yorick because he is a preacher in York; furthermore, these 
sermons are much praised." No further proof is needed that 
this reviewer was guiltless of any knowledge of Shandy be- 
yond the title. The ninth volume of Shandy is announced in 
the same number among the new English books. 

In 1767, the year before the publication of the Sentimental 
Journey, we find three notices of Tristram Shandy. In the 
Deutsche Bibliothek der schonen Wissenschaften 5 is a very 

1 The Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek was founded in 1765. 

2 XII, 1, pp. 210-21 1 and 2, p. 202. 

3 For full title see Bibliography. 

4 Vol. I, p. 460. 

6 Edited by Klotz and founded in 1767, published at Halle by J. J. Gebauer. 
Vol. I, Part 2, p. 183. 



22 

brief but, in the main, commendatory review of the Ziickert 
translation, coupled with the statement that the last parts are 
not by Sterne, but with the claim that the humor of the original 
is fairly well maintained. The review is signed "Dtsh." An- 
other Halle periodical, the Hallische Neue Gelehrte Zeitiin- 
gen, in the issue for August 10, 1767 1 reviews the same vol- 
umes with a much more decided acknowledgment of merit. 
It is claimed that the difference is not noticeable, and that the 
ninth part is almost more droll than all the others, an opinion 
which is noteworthy testimony to its originator's utter lack of 
comprehension of the whole work and of the inanity of this 
spurious last volume. The statement by both of these papers 
that the last three volumes, 2 parts VII, VIII and IX, of the 
Ziickert translation, rest on spurious English originals, is, of 
course, false as far as VII and VIII are concerned, and is true 
only of IX. 

In the Neue Bibliothek der schonen Wissenschaften, the last 
number for 1766 3 contains the first mention of Sterne's name 
in this representative literary periodical. It is an article en- 
titled "Ueber die Laune," 4 which is concerned with the phe- 
nomena of hypochrondia and melancholia, considered as ill- 
nesses, and their possible cure. The author claims to have 
found a remedy in the books which do not depress the spirits 
with exhibition of human woes, but which make merry over 
life's follies. In this he claims merely to be following the 
advice of St. Evremond to the Count of Olonne. His method 
he further explains by tracing humor to its beginnings in 
Aristophanes and by following its development through Latin, 
new Latin (Erasmus, Thomas Morus, etc.), French and Eng- 
lish writers. Among the latter Sterne is named. Unfortu- 
nately for the present purpose, the author is led by caution and 
fear of giving the offense of omission to refrain from naming 
the German writers who might be classed with the cited repre- 
sentatives of humor. In closing, he recommends heartily to 

1 Vol. II, p. 500. 

2 The former says merely "the last parts", the latter designates "the last three." 
"Ill, 1, pp. 1 ft. 

* This article is not to be confused with Garve's well-known article published in 
the same magazine, LXI, pp. 51-77 (1798). 



23 

those teased with melancholy a "portion of leaves of Lucian, 
some half-ounces of 'Don Quixote' or some drachms of 'Tom 
Jones' or 'Tristram Shandy.' ' : Under the heading, "New 
English Books," in the third number of the same periodical for 
1767, is a brief but significant notice of the ninth volume of 
Tristram Shandy. 1 "The ninth part of the well-known 'Life 
of Tristram Shandy' has been published ; we would not mention 
it, if we did not desire on this occasion to note at least once in 
our magazine a book which is incontestably the strangest pro- 
duction of wit and humor which has ever been brought forth. 
. . . The author of this original book is a clergyman by the 
name of Sterne, who, under his Harlequin's name, Yorick, 
has given to the world the most excellent sermons." The re- 
view contains also a brief word of comparison with Rabelais 
and a quotation from an English critic expressing regret at 
Yorick's embroidering "the choicest flowers of genius on a 
paultry groundwork of buffoonry." 2 This late mention of 
Sterne's great novel, and the manner in which it is made are not 
without their suggestions as to the attitude even of the German 
literary world toward Yorick. The notice is written in a tone 
of forced condescension. The writer is evidently compelled, 
as representative of British literary interests, to bear witness 
to the Shandy craze, but the attitude of the review is plainly in- 
dicative of its author's disbelief in any occasion for especial 
concern about Yorick in Germany. Sterne himself is men- 
tioned as a fitful whim of British taste, and a German devotion 
to him is beyond the flight of fancy. 3 

Individual authors, aware of international literary condi- 
tions, the inner circle of German culture, became acquainted 

1 IV, St. 2, pp. 376-7. 

2 This is from the February number, 1767, of the Monthly Review. (Vol. 
XXXVI, p. 102.) 

3 The seventh and eighth volumes of Shandy, English edition, are reviewed in 
the first number of a short-lived Frankfurt periodical, Neue Aussiige aus den besten 
auslandischen Wochen und Monatsschriften, 1765. Unterhaltungen, a magazine 
published at Hamburg and dealing largely with English interests, notes the 
London publication of the spurious ninth volume of Shandy (Vol. II, p. 152, 
August, 1766). Die Brittische Bibliothek, another magazine consisting principally of 
English reprints and literary news, makes no mention of Sterne up to 1767. Then 
in a catalogue of English books sold by Casper Fritsch in Leipzig, Shandy is 
given, but without the name of the author. There is an account of Sterne's ser- 
mons in the Neue Hamburgische Zeitung, April, 1768. 



24 

with Tristram Shandy during this period before the publication 
of the Sentimental Journey and learned to esteem the eccentric 
parson. Bode's possible acquaintance with the English orig- 
inal previous to 1764 has been already noted. Lessing's ad- 
miration for Sterne naturally is associated with his two state- 
ments of remarkable devotion to Yorick, both of which, how- 
ever, date from a period when he had already become ac- 
quainted with the Journey. At precisely what time Lessing 
first read Tristram Shandy it is impossible to determine with 
accuracy. Moses Mendelssohn writes to him in the summer 
of 1763 r 1 "Tristram Shandy is a work of masterly originality. 
At present, to be sure, I have read only the first two volumes. 
In the beginning the book vexed me exceedingly. I rambled 
on from digression to digression without grasping the real 
humor of the author. I regarded him as a man like our 
Liscow, whom, as you know, I don't particularly fancy; and 
yet the book pleases Lessing!" This is sufficient proof that 
Mendelssohn first read Shandy early in 1763, but, though not 
improbable, it is yet rather hazardous to conclude that Lessing 
also had read the book shortly before, and had just recom- 
mended it to his friend. The literary friendship existing be- 
tween them, and the general nature of their literary relations 
and communications, would rather favor such a hypothesis. 
The passage is, however, a significant confession of partial 
failure on the part of the clever and erudite Mendelssohn to 
appreciate Sterne's humor. It has been generally accepted 
that Lessing's dramatic fragment, "Die Witzlinge," included 
two characters modeled confessedly after Yorick's familiar 
personages, Trim and Eugenius. Boxberger and others have 
stamped such a theory with their authority. 2 If this were 
true, "Die Witzlinge" would undoubtedly be the first example 

1 Mendelssohn's Schriften, edited by Prof. Dr. G. B. Mendelssohn. Leipzig, 
Brockhaus, 1844. Vol. V, p. 171. 

2 Kiirschner edition of Lessing's works, III, 2, pp. 156-157. See also "Lessing 
und die Englander" by Josef Caro in Euphorion, VI, pp. 489 ff. Erich Schmidt 
made the statement in his life of Lessing in the edition of 1884, but corrected it 
later, in the edition of 1899, probably depending on parallel passages drawn from 
l'aul Albrecht's "Lessing's Plagiate" (Hamburg and Leipzig, 1888-1891), an extraor- 
dinary work which by its frequent absurdity and its viciousness of attack forfeits 
credence in its occasional genuine discoveries. 



25 

of Sterne's influence working directly upon the literary activ- 
ity of a German author. The fragment has, however, nothing 
to do with Tristram Shandy, and a curious error has here crept 
in through the remarkable juxtaposition of names later asso- 
ciated with Sterne. The plan is really derived directly from 
Shadwell's "Bury Fair" with its "Mr. Trim" fancifully styled 
"Eugenius." Those who tried to establish the connection 
could hardly have been familiar with Tristram Shandy, for 
Lessing's Trim as outlined in the sketch has nothing in common 
with the Corporal. 

Erich Schmidt, building on a suggestion of Lichtenstein, 
found a "Dosis Yorikscher Empfindsamkeit" 1 in Tellheim, and 
connected the episode of the Chevalier de St. Louis with the 
passage in "Minna von Barnhelm" (II, 2) in which Minna con- 
tends with the innkeeper that the king cannot know all deserv- 
ing men nor reward them. Such an identity of sentiment must 
be a pure coincidence for "Minna von Barnhelm" was pub- 
lished at Easter, 1767, nearly a year before the Sentimental 
Journey appeared. 

A connection between Corporal Trim and Just has been 
suggested, 2 but no one has by investigation established such a 
kinship. Both servants are patterns of old-fashioned fidelity, 
types of unquestioning service on the part of the inferior, a re- 
lation which existed between Orlando and Adam in "As You 
Like It," and which the former describes : 

"O good old man, how well in thee appears 
The constant service of the antique world, 
When service sweat for duty, not for meed ; 
Thou art not for the fashion of these times." 

Tellheim recognizes the value of Just's service, and honors his 
subordinate for his unusual faithfulness ; yet there exists here 
no such cordial comradeship as marked the relation between 
Sterne's originals. But one may discern the occasion of this 
in the character of Tellheim, who has no resemblance to Uncle 
Toby, rather than in any dissimilarity between the characters 
of the servants. The use of the relation between master and 

1 Lessing. "Geschichte seines Lebens und seiner Schriften." Berlin, 1884, I, 
pp. 174, 465. This is omitted in the latest edition. 

2 Perry (Thomas Sargeant) "From Opitz to Lessing." Boston, 1885, p. 162. 



26 

man as a subject for literary treatment was probably first 
brought into fashion by Don Quixote, and it is well-nigh cer- 
tain that Sterne took his cue from Cervantes. 

According to Erich Schmidt, the episode of Just's dog, as the 
servant relates it in the 8th scene of the ist act, could have 
adorned the Sentimental Journey, but the similarity of motif 
here in the treatment of animal fidelity is pure coincidence. 
Certainly the method of using the episode is not reminiscent of 
any similar scene in Sterne. Just's dog is not introduced for its 
own sake, nor like the ass at Nampont to afford opportunity for 
exciting humanitarian impulses, and for throwing human char- 
acter into relief by confronting it with sentimental possibilities, 
but for the sake of a forceful, telling and immediate compar- 
ison. Lessing was too original a mind, and at the time when 
"Minna" was written, too complete and mature an artist to fol- 
low another slavishly or obviously, except avowedly under cer- 
tain conditions and with particular purpose. He himself is said 
to have remarked, "That must be a pitiful author who does not 
borrow something once in a while," 1 and it does not seem im- 
probable that the figure of Trim was hovering in his memory 
while he was creating his Just. Especially does this seem 
plausible when we remember that Lessing wrote his drama 
during the years when Shandy was appearing, when he must 
have been occupied with it, and at the first flush of his admira- 
tion. 

This supposition, however undemonstrable, is given some 
support by our knowledge of a minor work of Lessing, which 
has been lost. On December 28, 1769, Lessing writes to 
Ebert from Hamburg: "Alberti is well; and what pleases me 
about him, as much as his health, is that the news of his recon- 
ciliation with Goeze was a false report. So Yorick will prob- 
ably preach and send his sermon soon." 2 And Ebert replies in 
a letter dated at Braunschweig, January 7, 1770, expressing a 
desire that Lessing should fulfil his promise, and cause Yorick 
to preach not once but many times. 3 The circumstance herein 

1 Quoted by Lichtenberg in "Gottingischer Taschenkalender," 1796, p. 191. 
"Vermischte Schriften," VI, p. 487. 

2 Lachmann edition, Berlin, 1840. Vol. XII, p. 240. 

3 XIII, pp. 209-10. 



27 

involved was first explained by Friedrich Nicolai in an article 
in the Berlinische Monatsschrift, 1791. 1 As a trick upon his 
friend Alberti, who was then in controversy with Goeze, Les- 
sing wrote a sermon in Yorick's manner ; the title and part of 
the introduction to it were privately printed by Bode and passed 
about among the circle of friends, as if the whole were in press. 
We are entirely dependent on Nicolai's memory for our infor- 
mation relative to this sole endeavor on Lessing's part to adopt 
completely the manner of Sterne. Nicolai asserts that this 
effort was a complete success in the realization of Yorick's sim- 
plicity, his good-natured but acute philosophy, his kindly 
sympathy and tolerance, even his merry whimsicality. 

This introduction, which Nicolai claims to have recalled es- 
sentially as Lessing wrote it, relates the occasion of Yorick's 
writing the sermon. Uncle Toby and Trim meet a cripple in 
a ragged French uniform; Capt. Shandy gives the unfortu- 
nate man several shillings, and Trim draws out a penny and 
in giving it says, "French Dog !" The narrative continues : 

"The Captain 2 was silent for some seconds and then said, 
turning to Trim, 'It is a man, Trim, and not a dog!' The 
French veteran had hobbled after them : at the Captain's words 
Trim gave him another penny, saying again 'French Dog!' 
'And, Trim, the man is a soldier.' Trim stared him in the face, 
gave him a penny again and said, 'French Dog !' 'And, Trim, 
he is a brave soldier ; you see he has fought for his fatherland 
and has been sorely wounded.' Trim pressed his hand, while 
he gave him another penny, and said 'French Dog!' 'And, 
Trim, this soldier is a good but unfortunate husband, and has 
a wife and four little children.' Trim, with a tear in his eye, 
gave all he had left and said, rather softly, 'French Dog!' ' 

This scene recalls vividly the encounter between Just and 
the landlord in the first act of "Minna," the passage in which 
Just continues to assert that the landlord is a "Grobian." 
There are the same tactics, the same persistence, the same 
contrasts. The passage quoted was, of course, written after 

1 XVII, pp. 30-45. The article is reprinted in the Hempel edition of Lessing, 
XVII, pp. 263-71. 

2 Nicolai uses the German word for colonel, a title which Uncle Toby never bore. 



28 

"Minna," but from it we gather evidence that Corporal Trim 
and his own Just were similar creations, that to him Corporal 
Trim, when he had occasion to picture him, must needs hark 
back to the figure of Just, a character which may well orig- 
inally have been suggested by Capt. Shandy's faithful servant. 
Among German literati, Herder is another representative 
of acquaintance with Sterne and appreciation of his master- 
piece. Haym 1 implies that Sterne and Swift are mentioned 
more often than any other foreign authors in Herder's writings 
of the Riga period (November, 1764, to May, 1769). This 
would, of course, include the first fervor of enthusiasm con- 
cerning the Sentimental Journey, and would be a statement de- 
cidedly doubtful, if applied exclusively to the previous years. 
In a note-book, possibly reaching back before his arrival in 
Riga to his student days in Konigsberg, Herder made quota- 
tions from Shandy and Don Quixote, possibly preparatory 
notes for his study of the ridiculous in the Fourth Waldchen. 2 
In May, 1766, Herder went to Mitau to visit Hamann, and he 
designates the account of the events since leaving there as "ein 
Capitel meines Shandyschen Romans" 3 and sends it as such to 
my uncle, Tobias Shandy." Later a letter, written 27-16, 
August, 1766, is begun with the heading, "Herder to Hamann 
and no more Yorick to Tobias Shandy," in which he says : "I 
am now in a condition where I can play the part of Yorick as 
little as Panza that of Governor." 4 The same letter contains 
another reference and the following familiar allusion to Sterne : 
"Griisen Sie Trim, wenn ich gegen keinen den beleidigenden 
Karakter Yoriks oder leider ! das Schicksal wider Willen zu 
beleidigen, habe, so ist's doch gegen ihn und Hartknoch." 
These last quotations are significant as giving proof that 
Shandy had so far forced its claims upon a little set of book- 
lovers in the remote east, Herder, Hamann and a few others, 
that they gave one another in play names from the English 
novel. A letter from Hamann to Herder, dated Konigsberg, 

1 R. Haym. "Herder nach seinem Leben und seinen Werken." I, p. 413. 

2 Haym, I, p. 261. 

3 Herder's "Briefe an Job. Georg Hamann," ed. by Otto Hoffmann, Berlin, 1889, 
p. 25, or "Lebcnsbild" II, p. 140. 

4 "Briefe an Hamann," p. 27. 



29 

June 10, 1767, indicates that the former shared also the devo- 
tion to Sterne. 1 

In the first collection of "Fragmente uber die neuere 
deutsche Litteratur," 1767, the sixth section treats of the 
"Idiotismen" of a language. British "Laune" is cited as such 
an untranslatable "Idiotism" and the lack of German humor- 
ists is noted, and Swift is noted particularly as an English 
example. In the second and revised edition Herder adds 
material containing allusion to Hudibras and Tristram. 2 
The first and second "Kritische Waldchen" contain several 
references to Sterne and Shandy. 3 Herder, curiously enough, 
did not read the Sentimental Journey until the autumn of 
1768, as is disclosed in a letter to Hamann written in Novem- 
ber, 4 which also shows his appreciation of Sterne. "An 
Sterne's Laune," he says, "kann ich mich nicht satt lesen. 
Eben den Augenblick, da ich an ihn denke, bekomme ich seine 
Sentimental Journey zum Durchlesen, und wenn nicht meine 
Englische Sprachwissenschaft scheitert, wie angenehm werde 
ich mit ihm reisen. Ich bin an seine Sentiments zum Theil 
schon go gewohnt, sie bis in das weiche innere Mark seiner 
Menschheit in ihren zarten Faden zu verfolgen: dass ich 
glaube seinen Tristram etwas mehr zu verstehn als the com- 
mon people. Nur um so mehr argern mich auch seine ver- 
fluchten Sauereien und Zweideutigkeiten, die das Buch weni- 
gerer Empfehlung fahig machen als es verdient." We learn 
from the same letter that Herder possessed the sermons of 
Yorick in the Zurich translation. Herder's own homiletical 
style during this period, as evinced by the sermons preserved 
to us, betrays no trace of Sterne's influence. 

Riedel, in his "Theorie der schonen Kunste und Wissen- 
schaften," 5 shows appreciation of Shandy complete and dis- 

1 Lebensbild II (I, 2), p. 256; also in Hamann's Schriften, ed. by Roth. Ber- 
lin, 1822, III, p. 372. Hamann asks Herder to remind his publisher, when the 
latter sends the promised third part of the "Fragmente," to inclose without fail the 
engraving of Sterne, because the latter is absolutely essential to his furnishings. 

2 See Suphan I, p. 163; II, p. 46. 

s Suphan III, pp. 170, 223, 233, 277, 307. 
* Briefe an Hamann, p. 49. 

8 .... in Auzug aus den Werken verschiedener Schriftsteller von Friedrich 
Just Riedel, Jena, 1767. The chapter cited is pp. 137 ff. 



30 

criminating, previous to the publication of the Sentimental 
Journey. This book is a sort of compendium, a series of 
rather disconnected chapters, woven together out of quota- 
tions from aesthetic critics, examples and comment. In the 
chapter on Similarity and Contrast he contends that a satirist 
only may transgress the rule he has just enunciated: "When 
a perfect similarity fails of its effect, a too far-fetched, a too 
ingenious one, is even less effective," and in this connection he 
quotes from Tristram Shandy a passage describing the acci- 
dent to Dr. Slop and Obadiah. 1 Riedel translates the passage 
himself. The chapter "Ueber die Laune" 2 contains two more 
references to Shandy. In a volume dated 1768 and entitled 
"Ueber das Publikum : Briefe an einige Glieder desselben," 
written evidently without knowledge of the Journey, Riedel 
indicates the position which Shandy had in these years won for 
itself among a select class. Riedel calls it a contribution to 
the "Register" of the human heart and states that he knows 
people who claim to have learned more psychology from this 
novel than from many thick volumes in which the authors had 
first killed sentiment in order then to dissect it at leisure. 3 

Early in 1763, one finds an appreciative knowledge of 
Shandy as a possession of a group of Swiss literati, but prob- 
ably confined to a coterie of intellectual aristocrats and novelty- 
seekers. Julie Von Bondeli 4 writes to Usteri from Koenitz on 
March 10, 1763, that Kirchberger 5 will be able to get him the 
opportunity to read Tristram Shandy as a whole, that she her- 
self has read two volumes with surprise, emotion and almost 
constant bursts of laughter; she goes on to say: "II voudrait 
la peine d'apprendre l'anglais ne fut-ce que pour lire cet im- 
payable livre, dont la verite et le genie se fait sentir a chaque 

1 1, p. 106. 

J Pp. 91-96; see also p. 331. 

8 Pp. 118-120, or Sammtliche Schriften, Wien, 1787, 4ter Th., 4ter Bd., p. 133. 
A review with quotation of this criticism of Shandy is found in the Deutsche Bib- 
liothek der schonen Wissenschaften, II, p. 659, but after the publication of the 
Mittelstedt translation of the Sentimental Journey had been reviewed in the same 
periodical. 

4 See "Julie von Bondeli und ihr Freundeskreis," von Eduard Bodemann. Han- 
nover, 1874. 

Nicholas Ant. Kirchberger, the Swiss statesman and philosopher, the friend 
of Rousseau. 



31 

ligne au travers de la plus originelle plaisanterie." Zimmer- 
mann was a resident of Brugg, 1754- 1768, and was an intimate 
friend of Fraulein von Bondeli. It may be that this later en- 
thusiastic admirer of Sterne became acquainted with Shandy at 
this time through Fraulein von Bondeli, but their correspond- 
ence, covering the years 1761-1775, does not disclose it. 

Dr. Carl Behmer, who has devoted an entire monograph to 
the study of Wieland's connection with Sterne, is of the opin- 
ion, and his proofs seem conclusive, that Wieland did not know 
Shandy before the autumn of 1767, 1 that is, only a few months 
before the publication of the Journey. But his enthusiasm 
was immediate. The first evidence of acquaintance with 
Sterne, a letter to Zimmermann (November 13, 1767), 2 is full 
of extravagant terms of admiration and devotion. One is 
naturally reminded of his similar extravagant expressions 
with reference to the undying worth of Richardson's novels. 
Sterne's life philosophy fitted in with Wieland's second literary 
period, the frivolous, sensuous, epicurean, even as the moral 
meanderings of Richardson agreed with his former serious, 
religious attitude. Probably soon after or while reading 
Shandy, Wieland conceived the idea of translating it. The 
letter which contains this very first mention of Sterne also 
records Wieland's regret that the Germans can read this in- 
comparable original only in so wretched a translation, which 
implies a contemporary acquaintance with Dr. Zikkert's ren- 
dering. This regret may well have been the foundation of 
his own purpose of translating the book; and knowledge of 
this seems to have been pretty general among German men 
of letters at the time. Though the account of this purpose 
would bring us into a time when the Sentimental Journey was 
in every hand, it may be as well to complete what we have to 
say of it here. 

His reason for abandoning the idea, and the amount of work 
done, the length of time he spent upon the project, cannot be 
determined from his correspondence and must, as Behmer im- 
plies, be left in doubt. But several facts, which Behmer does 

1 Behmer, "Laurence Sterne und C. M. Wieland," pp. 15-17. 
» "Ausgewahlte Briefe," Bd. II, p. 285 f. Zurich, 1815. 



32 

not note, remarks of his own and of his contemporaries, point 
to more than an undefined general purpose on his part; it is 
not improbable that considerable work was done. Wieland 
says incidentally in his Tcutscher Merkur, 1 in a review of the 
new edition of Ziickert's translation : "Vor drei Jahren, da 
er (Lange) mich bat, ihm die Uebersetzung des Tristram mit 
der ich damals umgieng, in Verlag zu geben." Herder asks 
Nicolai in a letter dated Paris, November 30, 1769, "What 
is Wieland doing, is he far along with his Shandy?" And in 
August, 1769, in a letter to Hartknoch, he mentions Wieland's 
Tristram among German books which he longs to read. 2 

The Jenaische Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen 3 for Decem- 
ber 18, 1769, in mentioning this new edition of Ziickert's trans- 
lation, states that Wieland has now given up his intention, but 
adds : "Perhaps he will, however, write essays which may 
fill the place of a philosophical commentary upon the whole 
book." That Wieland had any such secondary purpose is not 
elsewhere stated, but it does not seem as if the journal would 
have published such a rumor without some foundation in fact. 
It may be possibly a resurrection of his former idea of a de- 
fense of Tristram as a part of the "Litteraturbriefe" scheme 
which Riedel had proposed. 4 This general project having 
failed, Wieland may have cherished the purpose of defending 
Tristram independently of the plan. Or this may be a 
reviewer's vague memory of a former rumor of plan. 

It is worth noting incidentally that Gellert does not seem to 
have known Sterne at all. His letters, for example, to Demoi- 
selle Lucius, which begin October 22, 1760, and continue to 
December 4, 1769, contain frequent refrences to other English 
celebrities, but none to Sterne. 

The first notice of Sterne's death is probably that in the 
Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten of Hamburg in the issue of 
April 6, 1768, not three weeks after the event itself. The 
brief announcement is a comparison with Cervantes. The 

1 V, pp. 34S-6. 1774. 

2 See Lebensbild, V, p. 107 and p. 40. 
8 1769, p. 840. 

* See Behmer, p. 24, and the letter to Riedel, October 26, 1768, Ludwig Wielands 
Briefsammlung. I, p. 232. 



33 

Gottingische Gelehrte Anzeigen chronicles the death of Yorick, 
August 29, 1768. 1 

Though published in England from 1759-67, Tristram 
Shandy seems not to have been reprinted in Germany till the 
1772 edition of Richter in Altenburg, a year later indeed than 
Richter's reprint of the Sentimental Journey. The colorless 
and inaccurate Ziickert translation, as has already been sug- 
gested, achieved no real popular success and won no learned 
recognition. The reviews were largely silent or indifferent to 
it, and, apart from the comparatively few notices already cited, 
it was not mentioned by any important literary periodical until 
after its republication by Lange, when the Sentimental Journey 
had set all tongues awag with reference to the late lamented 
Yorick. None of the journals indicate any appreciation of 
Sterne's especial claim to recognition, nor see in the father- 
land any peculiar receptiveness to his appeal. In short, the 
foregoing accumulation of particulars resolves itself into the 
general statement, easily derived from the facts stated : 
Sterne's position in the German world of letters is due pri- 
marily to the Sentimental Journey. Without its added im- 
pulse Shandy would have hardly stirred the surface of German 
life and thought. The enthusiasm even of a few scholars 
whose learning and appreciation of literature is international, 
the occasional message of uncertain understanding, of doubt- 
ful approbation, or of rumored popularity in another land, are 
not sufficient to secure a general interest and attentiveness, 
much less a literary following. The striking contrast between 
the essential characteristics of the two books is a sufficient and 
wholly reasonable occasion for Germany's temporary indiffer- 
ence to the one and her immediate welcome for the other. 
Shandy is whimsicality touched with sentiment. The Senti- 
mental Journey is the record of a sentimental experience, 
guided by the caprice of a whimsical will. Whimsicality 
is a flower that defies transplanting ; when once rooted in other 
soil it shoots up into obscurity, masquerading as profundity, 
or pure silliness without reason or a smile. The whimsies of 
one language become amazing contortions in another. The 

1 p. 856. 
3 



34 

humor of Shandy, though deep-dyed in Sterne's own eccen- 
tricity, is still essentially British and demands for its apprecia- 
tion a more extensive knowledge of British life in its narrow- 
est, most individual phases, a more intensive sympathy with 
British attitudes of mind than the German of the eighteenth 
century, save in rare instances, possessed. Bode asserts in 
the preface to his translation of the Sentimental Journey that 
Shandy had been read by a good many Germans, but follows 
this remark with the query, "How many have understod it?" 
"One finds people," he says, "who despise it as the most non- 
sensical twaddle, and cannot comprehend how others, whom 
they must credit with a good deal of understanding, wit, and 
learning, think quite otherwise of it," and he closes by noting 
the necessity that one be acquainted with the follies of the 
world, and especially of the British world, to appreciate the 
novel. He refers unquestionably to his own circle of literati 
in Hamburg, who knew Tristram and cared for it, and to 
others of his acquaintance less favored with a knowledge of 
things English. The Sentimental Journey presented no in- 
scrutable mystery of purposeful eccentricity and perplexing 
personality, but was written large in great human characters 
which he who ran might read. And Germany was ready to 
give it a welcome. 1 

1 These two aspects of the Sterne cult in Germany will be more fully treated 
later. The historians of literature and other investigators who have treated 
Sterne's influence in Germany have not distinguished very carefully the difference 
between Sterne's two works, and the resulting difference between the kind and 
amount of their respective influences. Appell, however, interprets the condition 
correctly and assigns the cause with accuracy and pointedness. ("Werther und seine 
Zeit." p. 246). The German critics repeat persistently the thought that the imi- 
tators of Sterne remained as far away from the originals as the Shakespeare 
followers from the great Elizabethan. See Gervinus, Geschichte der deutschen 
Dichtung, I, 184; Hettner, "Geschichte der deutschen Literatur im 18. Jahrhundert,'> 
III, 1, p. 362; Hofer, "Deutsche Litteraturgeschichte," p. 150. 



CHAPTER III 

THE PUBLICATION OF THE SENTIMENTAL 
JOURNEY 

On February 27, 1768, the Sentimental Journey was pub- 
lished in London, 1 less than three weeks before the author's 
death, and the book was at once transplanted to German soil, 
beginning there immediately its career of commanding influ- 
ence and wide-spread popularity. 

Several causes operated together in favoring its pronounced 
and immediate success. A knowledge of Sterne existed among 
the more intelligent lovers of English literature in Germany, 
the leaders of thought, whose voice compelled attention 
for the understandable, but was powerless to create apprecia- 
tion for the unintelligible among the lower ranks of readers. 
This knowledge and appreciation of Yorick were immediately 
available for the furtherance of Sterne's fame as soon as a 
work of popular appeal was published. The then prevailing 
interest in travels is, further, not to be overlooked as a force- 
ful factor in securing immediate recognition for the Senti- 
mental Journey. 2 At no time in the world's history has the 
popular interest in books of travel, containing geographical 
and topographical description, and information concerning 
peoples and customs, been greater than during this period. 
The presses teemed with stories of wanderers in known and 
unknown lands. The preface to the Neue Zeitungen von 
Gelehrten Sachen of Leipzig for the year 1759 heralds as a 

1 Various German authorities date the Sentimental Journey erroneously 1767. 
Jordens, V, p. 753; Koberstein, III, p. 463; Hirsching, XIII, pp. 291-309. 

2 The reviewer in the Allg. deutsche Bibl. (Anhang I-XII, vol. II, p, 896) 
implies a contemporary cognizance of this aid to its popularity. He notes the in- 
terest in accounts of travels and fears that some readers will be disappointed after 
taking up the book. Some French books of travel, notably Chapelle's "Voyage en 
Provence," 1656, were read with appreciation by cultivated Germany and had their 
influence parallel and auxiliary to Sterne's. 

35 



36 

matter of importance a gain in geographical description. The 
Jcnaische Zeituiigcn von Gelehrtcn Sachen, 1773, makes in its 
tables of contents, a separate division of travels. In 1759, 
also, the "Allgemeine Historie der Reisen zu Wasser und 
zu Lande" (Leipzig, 1747-1774), reached its seventeenth vol- 
ume. These are brief indications among numerous similar in- 
stances of the then predominant interest in the wanderer's ex- 
perience. Sterne's second work of fiction, though differing in 
its nature so materially from other books of travel, may well, 
even if only from the allurement of its title, have shared the 
general enthusiasm for the traveler's narrative. Most im- 
portant, however, is the direct appeal of the book itself, irre- 
sistible to the German mind and heart. Germany had been 
for a decade hesitating on the verge of tears, and grasped with 
eagerness a book which seemed to give her British sanction for 
indulgence in her lachrymose desire. 

The portion of Shandy which is virtually a part of the Sen- 
timental Journey, 1 which Sterne, possibly to satisfy the de- 
mands of the publisher, thrust in to fill out volumes contracted 
for, was not long enough, nor distinctive enough in its use of 
sentiment, was too effectually concealed in its volume of Shan- 
dean quibbles, to win readers for the whole of Shandy, or to 
direct wavering attention through the mazes of Shandyism up 
to the point where the sentimental Yorick really takes up the 
pen and introduces the reader to the sad fate of Maria of 
Moulines. One can imagine eager Germany aroused to senti- 
mental frenzy over the Maria incident in the Sentimental 
Journey, turning with throbbing contrition to the forgotten, 
neglected, or unknown passage in Tristram Shandy. 2 

It is difficult to trace sources for Sterne in English letters, 
that is, for the strange combination of whimsicality, genuine 
sentiment and knavish smiles, which is the real Sterne. He 
is individual, exotic, not demonstrable from preceding literary 
conditions, and his meteoric, or rather rocket-like career in 
Britain is in its decline a proof of the insensibility of the Eng- 
lish people to a large portion of his gospel. The creature of 

1 In the Seventh Iiook of Tristram Shandy. III. pp. 47-1 to. 

2 III, pp. 210-213. 



37 

fancy which, by a process of elimination, the Germans made 
out of Yorick is more easily explicable from existing and pre- 
ceding literary and emotional conditions in Germany. 1 
Brockes had prepared the way for a sentimental view of nature, 
Klopstock's poetry had fostered the display of emotion, the 
analysis of human feeling. Gellert had spread his own sort of 
religious and ethical sentimentalism among the multitudes of 
his devotees. Stirred by, and contemporaneous with Gallic 
feeling, Germany was turning with longing toward the natural 
man, that is, man unhampered by convention and free to fol- 
low the dictates of the primal emotions. The exercise of hu- 
man sympathy was a goal of this movement. In this vague, 
uncertain awakening, this dangerous freeing of human feel- 
ings, Yorick's practical illustration of the sentimental life 
could not but prove an incentive, an organizer, a relief for 
pent-up emotion. 2 

Johann Joachim Christoph Bode has already been mentioned 
in relation to the early review of Ziickert's translation of 
Shandy. His connection with the rapid growth of the Yorick 
cult after the publication of the Sentimental Journey demands 
a more extended account of this German apostle of Yorick. 
In the sixth volume of Bode's translation of Montaigne 3 was 
printed first the life of the translator by C. A. Bottiger. This 

1 The emotional groundwork in Germany which furthered the appreciation of 
the Journey, and the sober sanity of British common sense which choked its 
English sweep, are admirably and typically illustrated in the story of the meeting 
of Fanny Burney and Sophie la Roche, as told in the diary of the former ("The 
Diary and Letters of Frances Burney, Madame D'Arblay," Boston, 1880, I, p. 291), 
entries for September 11 and 17, 1786. On their second meeting Mme. D'Arblay 
writes of the German sentimentalist: "Madame la Roche then rising and fixing her 
eyes filled with tears on my face, while she held both my hands, in the most melting 
accents exclaimed, 'Miss Borni, la plus chere, la plus digne des Anglaises, dites — 
moi — m'aimez vous?' " Miss Burney is quite sensibly frank in her inability to 
fathom this imbecility. Ludmilla Assing ("Sophie la Roche," Berlin, 1S59, pp. 
273-280) calls Miss Burney cold and petty. 

2 So heartily did the Germans receive the Sentimental Journey that it was felt 
ere long to be almost a German book. The author of "Ueber die schonen Geister 
und Dichter des i8ten Jahrhunderts vornehmlich unter den Deutschen," by J. C. 
Fritsch (?) (Lemgo, 1771), gives the book among German stories and narratives 
(pp. 177-9) along with Hagedorn, Gellert, Wieland and others. He says of the 
first parts of the Sentimental Journay, "zwar .... aus dem Englischen iibersetzt; 
kann aber fur national passieren." 

3 Michael Montaigne's "Gedanken und Meinungen iiber Allerley Gegenstande. 
Ins Deutsch iibersetzt." Berlin (Lagarde) 1793-5. Bode's life is in Vol. VI, pages 



38 

was published the following year by the same house in a sepa- 
rate volume entitled "J- J- C. Bodes literarisches Leben, nebst 
dessen Bildnis von Lips." All other sources of information 
regarding Bode, such as the accounts in Jordens and in 
Schlichtegroll's "Nekrolog," 1 are derivations or abstracts from 
this biography. Bode was born in Braunschweig in 1730; 
reared in lowly circumstances and suffering various vicissi- 
tudes of fortune, he came to Hamburg in 1756-7. Gifted with 
a talent for languages, which he had cultivated assiduously, 
he was regarded at the time of his arrival, even in Hamburg, 
as one especially conversant with the English language and 
literature. His nature must have borne something akin to 
Yorick, for his biographer describes his position in Hamburg 
society as not dissimilar to that once occupied for a brief space 
in the London world by the clever feted Sterne. Yet the en- 
thusiasm of the friend as biographer doubtless colors the case, 
forcing a parallel with Yorick by sheer necessity. Before 
1768 Bode had published several translations from the Eng- 
lish with rather dubious success, and the adaptability of the 
Sentimental Journey to German uses must have occurred to 
him, or have been suggested to him directly upon its very im- 
portation into Germany. He undoubtedly set himself to the 
task of translation as soon as the book reached his hands, for, 
in the issue of the Hambnrgische A dress-Co mptoir-N achrich- 
ten for April 20, is found Bode's translation of a section from 
the Sentimental Journey. "Die Bettler" he names the extract ; 
it is really the fifth of the sections which Sterne labels "Mon- 
triul." 2 In the numbers of the same paper for June 11 and 
15, Bode translates in two parts the story of the "Monk ;" thus, 
in but little over three months after its English publication, the 
story of the poor Franciscan Lorenzo and his fateful snuff-box 
was transferred to Germany and began its heart-touching ca- 
reer. These excerpts were included by Bode later in the year 
when he published his translation of the whole Sentimental 

III-CXLIV. For a review of Bode's Life see Neue Bibl. der schonen Wissen- 
schaften, LVIII, p. 93. 

1 Supplementband fur 1790-93, pp. 350-418. 

2 The references to the Hambnrgische Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten are as fol- 
lows: 1768, pages 241, 361 and 369 respectively. 



39 

Journey. The first extract was evidently received with favor 
and interest, for, in the foreword to the translation of the 
"Monk," in the issue of June II, Bode assigns this as his 
reason for making his readers better acquainted with this 
worthy book. . He further says that the reader of taste and in- 
sight will not fail to distinguish the difference when so fine 
a connoisseur of the human heart as Sterne depicts sentiments, 
and when a shallow wit prattles of his emotions. Bode's last 
words are a covert assumption of his role as prophet and priest 
of Yorick in Germany: "The reader may himself judge from 
the following passage, whether we have spoken of our Briton 
in terms of too high praise." 

In the July number of the Unterhaltungen, another Ham- 
burg periodical, is printed another translation from the Sen- 
timental Journey entitled : "Eine Begebenheit aus Yoricks 
Reise furs Herz tibersetzt." The episode is that of the fille de 
chambre 1 who is seeking Crebillon's "Les Egarements du 
Coeur et de l'Esprit." The translator omits the first part of 
the section and introduces us to the story with a few un- 
acknowledged words of his own. In the September number 
of the same periodical the rest of the fflle de chambre story 2 is 
narrated. Here also the translator alters the beginning of the 
account to make it less abrupt in the rendering. The author 
of this translation has not been determined. Bode does not 
translate the word "Sentimental" in his published extracts, giv- 
ing merely the English title ; hence Lessing's advice 3 concern- 
ing the rendering of the word dates probably from the latter 
part of the summer. The translation in the September number 
of the Unterhaltungen also does not contain a rendering of the 
word. Bode's complete translation was issued probably in 
October, 4 possibly late in September, 1768, and bore the im- 
print of the publisher Cramer in Hamburg and Bremen, but 

a Pp. 7W4- 

2 Pp. 101-104. "The Temptation" and the "Conquest." The Unterhaltungen 
is censured by the Deutsche Bibliothek der schonen Wissenschaften, III, p. 266, for 
printing a poor translation from Yorick when two translations had already been 
announced. The references to Unterhaltungen are respectively pp. 12-16, and 
209-213. 

3 See below, p. 42-3. 

4 It was reviewed in the Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent, Oct. 29. 



40 

the volumes were printed at Bode's own press and were entitled 
"Yoricks Empfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien, aus 
dem Englischen iibersetzt." 1 

The translator's preface occupies twenty pages and is an im- 
portant document in the story of Sterne's popularity in Ger- 
many, since it represents the introductory battle-cry of the 
Sterne cult, and illustrates the attitude of cultured Germany 
toward the new star. Bode begins his foreword with Lessing's 
well-known statement of his devotion to Sterne. Bode does 
not name Lessing ; calls him "a well-known German scholar." 
The statement referred to was made when Bode brought to his 
friend the news of Sterne's death. It is worth repeating : 

"I would gladly have resigned to him five years of my own 
life, if such a thing were possible, though I had known with 
certainty that I had only ten, or even eight left. . . . but under 
the condition that he must keep on writing, no matter what, 
life and opinions, or sermons, or journeys." On July 5, 1768, 
Lessing wrote to Nicolai, commenting on Winckelmann's 
death as follows : "He is the second author within a short 
time, to whom I would have gladly given some years of my 
own life." 2 

Nearly thirty years later (March 20, 1797) Sara Wulf, 
whose maiden name was Meyer and who was later and better 
known as Frau von Grotthus, wrote from Dresden to Goethe 
of the consolation found in "Werther" after a disappointing 
youthful love affair, and of Lessing's conversation with her 
then concerning Goethe. She reports Lessing's words as fol- 
lows : "You will feel sometime what a genius Goethe is, I am 
sure of this. I have always said I would give ten years of my 
own life if I had been able to lengthen Sterne's by one year, 
but Goethe consoles me in some measure for his loss." 3 

It would be absurd to attach any importance to this varia- 
tion of statement. It does not indicate necessarily an affection 
for Sterne and a regret at his loss, mathematically doubled in 
these seven or eight years between Sterne's death and the time 
of Lessing's conversation with Sara Meyer ; it probably arises 

1 I. pp. XX, 168; II, p. 168. 

2 Lachmann's edition, 1840, XII, p. 199. 

8 See Goethc-Jahrbuch, XIV (1893), pp. 51-52. 



41 

from a failure of memory on the part of the lady, for Bode's 
narrative of the anecdote was printed but a few months after 
Sterne's death, and Lessing made no effort to correct an inac- 
curacy of statement, if such were the case, though he lived to 
see four editions of Bode's translation and consequently so 
many repetitions of his expressed but impossible desire. Erich 
Schmidt 1 reduces this willingness on Lessing's part to one year, 
— an unwarranted liberty. 

These two testimonies of Lessing's devotion are of im- 
portance in defining his attitude toward Yorick. They attest 
the fact that this was no passing fancy, no impulsive thought 
uttered on the moment when the news of Sterne's death was 
brought to him, and when the Sentimental Journey could have 
been but a few weeks in his hands, but a deep-seated desire, 
born of reflection and continued admiration. 2 The addition 
of the word ''Reisen" in Bode's narrative is significant, for it 
shows that Lessing must have become acquainted with the Sen- 
timental Journey before April 6, the date of the notice of 
Sterne's death in the Hamburgische Adress-Comptoir-Nach- 
richten;" 3 that is, almost immediately after its English publi- 
cation, unless Bode, in his enthusiasm for the book which he 
was offering the public, inserted the word unwarrantably in 
Lessing's statement. 

To return to Bode's preface. With emphatic protestations, 
disclaiming vanity in appealing to the authority of so distin- 
guished a friend, Bode proceeds to relate more in detail Les- 
sing's connection with his endeavor. He does not say that 
Lessing suggested the translation to him, though his account 
has been interpreted to mean that, and this fact has been gen- 
erally accepted by the historians of literature and the biogra- 

1 "Heinrich Leopold Wagner, Goethe's Jugendgenosse," 2d ed. Jena, From- 
mann, 1879, p. 104. 

2 It is not possible to date with absolute certainty the time of Lessing's con- 
versation with Sara Meyer, but it was after the publication of "Werther," and 
must have been on one of his two visits to Berlin after that, that is, in March, 
1775, on his way to Vienna, or in February, 1776, on his return from Italy. 

3 Bode must have come to Lessing with the information before this public an- 
nouncement, for Lessing could hardly have failed to learn of it when once pub- 
lished in a prominent Hamburg perodical. 



42 

phers of Lessing. 1 The tone of Bode's preface, however, 
rather implies the contrary, and no other proof of the suppo- 
sition is available. What Bode does assert is merely that the 
name of the scholar whom he quotes as having expressed a 
willingness to give a part of his own life if Sterne's literary 
activity might be continued, would create a favorable prepos- 
session for his original ("ein giinstiges Vorurtheil"), and that 
a translator is often fortunate enough if his selection of a book 
to translate is not censured. All this implies, on Lessing's 
part, only an approval of Bode's choice, a fact which would 
naturally follow from the remarkable statement of esteem in the 
preceding sentence. Bode says further that out of friendship 
for him and regard for the reader of taste, this author (Les- 
sing), had taken the trouble to go through the whole transla- 
tion, and then he adds the conventional request in such 
circumstances, that the errors remaining may be attributed to 
the translator and not to the friend. 

The use of the epithet "empfindsam" for "sentimental" is 
then the occasion for some discussion, and its source is one of 
the facts involved in Sterne's German vogue which seem to 
have fastened themselves on the memory of literature. Bode 
had in the first place translated the English term by "sittlich," a 
manifestly insufficient if not flatly incorrect rendering, but his 
friend coined the word "empfindsam" for the occasion and 
Bode quotes Lessing's own words on the subject: 

"Bemerken Sie sodann dass sentimental ein neues Wort ist. 

1 Bottiger in his biographical sketch of Bode is the first to make this statement 
(p. lxiii), and the spread of the idea and its general acceptation are directly 
traceable to his authority. The Neue Bibl. der sclwnen Wissenschaften in its re- 
view of Bottiger's work repeats the statement (LVIII, p. 97), and it is again 
repeated by Jordens (I, p. 114, edition of 1806), by Danzel-Guhrauer with express 
mention of Bottiger ("Lessing, sein Leben und seine Werke," II. Erste Abtheilung, 
p. 287), and by Erich Schmidt ("Lessing, Geschichte seines Lebens und seiner 
Schriften," Berlin, 1899, I, p. 674). The editor of the Hempel edition, VII, p. 
553 claims Lessing as responsible for the translation of the Journey, and also of 
Shandy. The success of the "Empfindsame Reise" and the popularity of Sterne are 
quite enough to account for the latter translation and there is no evidence of urging 
on Lessing's part. A similar statement is found in Gervinus (V, p. 194). The 
Frankfurter Gel. Anz. (Apr. 21, 1775), p. 267, credits Wieland with having urged 
Bode to translate Shandy. The Neue Critische Nachrichten, Greifswald, IX, p. 279, 
makes the same statement. The article, however, in the Teutscher Merkur (1773, 
II, pp. 228-30) expresses merely a great satisfaction that Bode is engaged upon the 
work, and gives some suggestions to him about it. 



43 

War es Sternen erlaubt, sich ein neues Wort zu bilden, so muss 
es eben darum auch seinem Uebersetzer erlaubt seyn. Die 
Englander hatten gar kein Adjectivum von Sentiment: wir 
haben von Empfindung mehr als eines, empfindlich, empfind- 
bar, empfindungsreich, aber diese sagen alle etwas anders. 
Wagen Sie, empfindsam ! Wenn eine miihsame Reise eine Reise 
heisst, bey der viel Miihe ist : so kann ja auch eine empfindsame 
Reise eine Reise heissen, be der viel Empfindung war. Ich 
will nicht sagen, dass Sie die Analogie ganz auf ihrer Seite 
haben durften. Aber was die Leser vors erste bey dem Worte 
noch nicht denken mogen, sie sich nach und nach dabey zu 
denken gewohnen." 1 

The statement that Sterne coined the word "sentimental" is 
undoubtedly incorrect, 2 but no one seems to have discovered 
and corrected the error till Nicolai's article on Sterne in the 
Berliuische Monatsschrift for February, 1795, in which it is 
shown that the word had been used in older English novels, in 
"Sir Charles Grandison" indeed. 3 It may well be that, as 
Bottiger hints,* the coining of the word "empfindsam" was sug- 
gested to Lessing by Abbt's similar formation of "empfind- 
nisz." 5 

The preface to this first edition of Bode's translation of the 
Sentimental Journey contains, further, a sketch of Sterne's 
life, his character and his works. Bode relates the familiar 

1 See Bode's Introduction, p. iii, iv. Also Allg. deutsche Bibl., Anhang, I-XII, 
Vol. II, pp. 896-9. 

2 Strangely enough the first use of this word which has been found is in one of 
Sterne's letters, written in 1740 to the lady who subsequently became his wife. 
(Letters, p. 25). But these letters were not published till 1775, long after the 
word was in common use. An obscure Yorkshire clergyman can not be credited 
with its invention. 

3 Bottiger refers to Campe's work, "Ueber die Bereicherung und Reinigung der 
deutschen Sprache," p. 297 ff., for an account of the genesis of this word, but adds 
that Campe is incorrect in his assertion that Sterne coined the word. Campe does 
not make the erroneous statement at all, but Bode himself puts it in the mouth of 
Lessing. 

4 See foot note to page lxiii. 

5 For particulars concerning this parallel formation see Mendelssohn's Schriften, 
ed. by G. B. Mendelssohn, Leipzig, 1844. V, pp. 330, 335-7, letters between Abbt, 
Mendelssohn, Nicolai. 

6 The source of Bode's information is the article by Dr. Hill, first published 
in the Royal Female Magazine for April, 1760, and reprinted in the London 
Chronicle, May 5, 1760 (pp. 434-435), under the title, "Anecdotes of a fashionable 



44 

story of the dog, but misses the point entirely in rendering 
"puppy" by "Geek" in Sterne's reply, "So lang er ein Geek ist." 
The watchcoat episode is narrated, and a brief account is given 
of Sterne's fortunes in London with Tristram Shandy and the 
sermons. Allusion has already been made to the hints thrown 
out in this sketch relative to the reading of Sterne in Germany. 
A translation from Shandy of the passage descriptive of Parson 
Yorick serves as a portrait for Sterne. 

A second edition of Bode's work was published in 1769. 
The preface, which is dated "Anfang des Monats Mai, 1769," 
is in the main identical with the first, but has some significant 
additions. A word is said relative to his controversy with a 
critic, which is mentioned later. 1 Bode confesses further that 
the excellence of his work is due to Ebert and Lessing, 2 
though modesty compelled his silence in the previous preface 
concerning the source of his aid. Bode admits that even this 
disclosure is prompted by the clever guess of a critic in the 
Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent, 3 who openly 
named Lessing as the scholar referred to in the first introduc- 
tion. The addition and prominence of Ebert's name is worthy 
of note, for in spite of the plural mention 4 in the appendix to 
the introduction, his first acknowledgment is to one friend only 
and there is no suggestion of another counselor. Ebert's con- 
nection with the Bode translation has been overlooked in the 
distribution of influence, while the memorable coining of the 
new word, supplemented by Bottiger's unsubstantiated state- 
ments, has emphasized Lessing's service in this regard. Ebert 
is well-known as an intelligent and appreciative student of Eng- 
lish literature, and as a translator, but his own works betray no 
trace of imitation or admiration of Sterne. 

The final words of this new preface promise a translation of 
the continuation of the Sentimental Journey ; the spurious vol- 
umes of Eugenius are, of course, the ones meant here. This 

Author." Bode's sketch is an abridged translation of this article. This article is 
referred to in Sterne's letters, I, pp. 38-9, 42. 

1 See p. 47. 

2 "Dass ich das Gute, was man an meiner Uebersetzung findet, grossten Theils 
denen Herren Ebert und Lessing zu verdanken habe." 

3 Hamburgischer Unpartheyischer Correspondent, October 29, 1768. 
* "Verschwieg ich die Namen dieser Manner." 



45 

introduction to the second edition remains unchanged in the 
subsequent ones. The text of the second edition was substan- 
tially an exact reproduction of the first, but Bode allowed him- 
self frequent minor changes of word or phrase, an alteration 
occurring on an average once in about three pages. Bode's 
changes are in general the result of a polishing or filing pro- 
cess, in the interest of elegance of discourse, or accuracy of 
translation. Bode acknowledges that some of the corrections 
were those suggested by a reviewer, 1 but states that other pas- 
sages criticised were allowed to stand as they were. He says 
further that he would have asked those friends who had helped 
him on his translation itself to aid him in the alterations, if 
distance and other conditions had allowed. The reference here 
is naturally to his separation from Ebert, who was in Braun- 
schweig, but the other "conditions" which could prevent a 
continuation of Lessing's interest in the translation and his as- 
sistance in revision are not evident. Lessing was in Hamburg 
during this period, and hence his advice was available. 

Bode's retranslation of the passage with which Sterne's work 
closed shows increased perception and appreciation for the 
subtleness of Sterne's indecent suggestions, or, perhaps, a 
growing lack of timidity or scruple in boldly repeating them. 
It is probable that the continuation by Eugenius, which had 
come into his. hands during this period, had, with its resump- 
tion of the point, reminded Bode of the inadequacy and inex- 
actness of his previous rendering. 

At almost precisely the same time that Bode's translation ap- 
peared, another German rendering was published, a fact which 
in itself is significant for the determination of the relative 
strength of appeal as between Sterne's two works of fiction. 
The title 2 of this version was "Yersuch iiber die menschliche 



1 See p. 47. 

2 Jordens gives this title, which is the correct one. Appell in "Werther und 
seine Zeit," (p. 247) calls it "Herrn Yoricks, Verfasser (sic) des Tristram Shandy 
Reisen durch Frankreich und Italien, als ein Versuch iiber die menschliche Natur," 
which is the title of the second edition published later, but with the same date. 
See Allg. deutsche Bibliothck, Anhang, I-XII, Vol. II, pp. 896-9. Kayser and 
Heinsius both give "Empfindsame Reisen durch Frankreich und Italien, oder Ver- 
such iiber die menschliche Natur," which is evidently a confusion with the better 
known Bode translation, an unconscious effort to locate the book. 



46 

Natur in Herrn Yoricks, Verfasser des Tristram Shandy, 
Reisen durch Frankreich und Italien, aus dem Englischen." 
It was dated 1769 and was published at the "Furstliche Waisen- 
hausbuchhandlung," in Braunschweig. The preface is signed 
Braunschweig, September 7, 1768, and the book was issued 
in September or October. The anonymous translator was 
Pastor Mittelstedt 1 in Braunschweig (Hirsching und Jordens 
say Hofprediger), whom the partisan Bottiger calls the ever- 
ready manufacturer of translations (der allezeit fertige Ueber- 
setzungsfabrikant) . Behmer tentatively suggests Weis as the 
translator of this early rendering, an error into which he is led 
evidently by a remark in Bode's preface in which the apologetic 
translator states the rumor that Weis was engaged in translat- 
ing the same book, and that he (Bode) would surely have 
locked up his work in his desk if the publisher had not thereby 
been led to suffer loss. Nothing was ever heard of this third 
translation. 

This first edition of the Mittelstedt translation contains 248 
pages and is supplied with a preface which is, like Bode's, con- 
cerned in considerable measure with the perplexing problem of 
the translation of Sterne's title. The English title is given and 
the word "sentimental" is declared a new one in England and 
untranslatable in German. Mittelstedt proposes "Gefiihlvolle 
Reisen," "Reisen furs Herz," "Philosophische Reisen," and 
then condemns his own suggestions as indeterminate and 
forced. He then goes on to say, "So I have chosen the title 
which Yorick himself suggests in the first part." 2 He speaks 
of the lavish praise already bestowed on this book by the 
learned journals, and turns at last aside to do the obvious: he 
bemoans Sterne's death by quoting Hamlet and closes with an 
apostrophe to Sterne translated from the April number of the 
Monthly Review for 1768. 3 In 1769, the year when the first 

1 Through some strange confusion, a reviewer in the Jenaische Zeitungen von 
Gelehrten Sachen (1769, p. 574) states that Ebert is the author of this translation; 
he also asserts that Bode and Lessing had translated the book; it is reported too 
that Bode is to issue a new translation in which he makes use of the work of 
Lessing and Ebert, a most curious record of uncertain rumor. 

2 See p. 31, "In the Street, Calais." "If this won't turn out something, another 
will. No matter, — 'tis an essay upon human nature." 

8 Monthly Review, XXXVIII, p. 319: "Gute Nacht, bewunderungswurdiger 
Yorick! Dein Witz, Deine Menschenliebet Dein redliches Herz! ein jedes 



47 

edition was dated, the Mittelstedt translation was published 
under a slightly altered title, as already mentioned. This sec- 
ond edition of the Mittelstedt translation in the same year as 
the first is overlooked by Jordens and Hirsching, 1 both of 
whom give a second and hence really a third edition in 1774- 
Bottiger notes with partisan zeal that Bode's translation was 
made use of in some of the alterations of this second edition, 
and further records the fact that the account of Sterne's life, 
added in this edition, was actually copied from Bode's preface. 1 

The publication of the Mittelstedt translation was the oc- 
casion of a brief controversy between the two translators in 
contemporary journals. Mittelstedt printed his criticism of 
Bode's work in a home paper, the Braunschweiger Intelligenz- 
blatter, and Bode spoke out his defense in the Nene Hamburger 
Zeitung. That Bode in his second edition adopted some of the 
reviewer's suggestions and criticisms has been noted, but in the 
preface to this edition he declines to resume the strife in spite 
of general expectation of it, but, as a final shot, he delivers 
himself of "an article from his critical creed," that the "critic is 
as little infallible as author or translator," which seems, at any 
rate, a rather pointless and insignificant contribution to the 
controversy. 

Bode's translation of the third and fourth volumes of 
Yorick's Journey, 2 that is, the continuation by Eugenius, fol- 
lowed directly after the announcement in the preface to the 
second edition of the first two volumes, as already mentioned. 
Bottiger states that Bode had this continuation from Alberti 
and knew it before anyone else in Germany. It was published 
in England in the spring of 1769, and was greeted with a dis- 
approval which was quite general, and it never enjoyed there 

untadelhafte Stuck deines Lebens und deiner Schriften miisse in einem unster- 
blichen Gedachtnisse bluhen, — und O! mogte der Engel, der jenes aufgezeichnet 
hat, iiber die Unvollkommenheiten von beiden eine Thr3ne des Mitleidens fallen 
lassen und sie auf ewig ausloschen." 

1 Jordens, V, p. 753. Hirsching, Historisch-litterarisches Handbuch, XIII, pp. 
291-309 (1809). 

2 It has not been possible to examine this second edition, but the information 
concerning Sterne's life may quite possibly have been taken not from Bode's work 
but from his sources as already given. 

8 "Yoriks empfindsame Reise, aus dem Englischen ubersetzt," 3ter und 4ter 
Theil, Hamburg und Bremen, bei Cramer, 1769. 



48 

any considerable genuine popularity or recognition. Bode 
published this translation of Stevenson's work without any 
further word of comment or explanation whatsoever, a fact 
which easily paved the way for a misunderstanding relative to 
the volumes, for Bode was frequently regarded as their author 
and held responsible for their defects. Bode himself never 
made any satisfactory or adequate explanation of his attitude 
toward these volumes, and the reply to Goeze in the introduc- 
tion to his translation of Shandy is the nearest approach to a 
discussion of his position. But there Bode is concerned only 
with the attack made by the Hamburg pastor upon his char- 
acter, an inference drawn from the nature of the book trans- 
lated, and the character of the translation ; in the absence of 
a new edition in which "Mine and His shall be marked off by 
distinct boundaries," he asks Goeze only to send to him, and 
beg "for original and translation," naturally for the purpose 
of comparison. This evasive reply is Bode's only defense or 
explanation. Bottiger claims that the review of Bode's trans- 
lation in the Allegemeine deutsche Bibliotliek did much to 
spread the idea of Bode's authorship, though the reviewer in 
that periodical 1 only suggests the possibility of German author- 
ship, a suspicion aroused by the substitution of German customs 
and motif and word-play, together with contemporary literary 
allusion, allusion to literary mediocrities and obscurities, of 
such a nature as to preclude the possibility of the book's being 
a literal translation from the English. 

The exact amount and the nature of Bode's divergence from 
the original, his alterations and additions, have never been defi- 
nitely stated by anyone. The reviewer in the Allgemeine 
deutsche Bibliothek is manifestly ignorant of the original. Bot- 
tiger is indefinite and partisan, yet his statement of the facts 
has been generaly accepted and constantly repeated. He ad- 
mits the German coloring given the translation by Bode 
through German allusions and German word-plays : he says 
that Bode allowed himself these liberties, feeling that he was 
no longer dealing with Sterne, a statement of motive on Bode's 

1 See Allg. deutsche Bibl. Anhang, I-XIT. Vol. II, pp. 896-9. Hirsching (Hist.- 
Litt. Handbuch) says confusedly that Bode wrote the fourth and fifth parts. 



49 

part which the latter never makes and never hints at. The 
only absolute additions which Bottiger mentions as made by 
Bode to the narrative of Eugenius are the episode, "Das 
Hiindchen," and the digression, "Die Moral." The erroneous 
idea herein implied has been caught up and repeated by nearly 
everyone who has mentioned Bode's translation of the work. 1 
The less certain allusion to "Die Moral" has been lost sight of, 
and "Das Hiindchen" alone has been remembered as represent- 
ing this activity on Bode's part. In fact this episode is only 
one of many pure creations on Bode's part and one of the 
briefer. In the first pages of these volumes Bode is faithful 
to the original, a fact suggesting that examination or compar- 
ison of the original text and Bode's translation was never car- 
ried beyond the first two-score pages ; yet here, it would seem, 
Bode's rendering was less careful, more open to censure for 
inaccuracy, than in the previous volumes. 2 

This method of translation obtains up to page 48, then Bode 
omits a half-page of half-innocent, half-revolting suggestion, 
the story of the Cordelier, and from the middle of page 49 to 
page 75, twenty-five pages, the translator adds material abso- 
lutely his own. This fiction, introducing Yorick's sentimental 
attitude toward the snuff-box, resuming a sentimental episode 
in Sterne's work, full of tears and sympathy, is especially char- 
acteristic of Yorick, as the Germans conceived him. The story 

1 See Neue Bibl. der schonen Wissenschaften, LVIII, p. 98. "Im dritten Bande 
ist die riihrende Geschichte, das Hiindchen, ganz von ihm." Also Jordens, I, 114, 
Heine, "Der deutsche Roman," p. 23. 

2 The following may serve as examples of inadequate, inexact or false renderings: 

ORIGINAL BODE'S TRANSLATION 

Like a stuck pig. P. 5 : Eine arme Hexe, die Feuer- 

Probe machen soil. 
Dress as well as undress. P. 9: Der Kleidung als der Einklei- 

dung. 
Chance medley of sensation. P. 11: Unschuldiges Verbrechen der 

Sinne. 
Where serenity was wont to fix her P. 13: Wo die Heiterkeit ihren Sitz 

reign. aufgeschlagen hatte. 

Wayward shades of my canvas. P. 20: Die harten Schattirungen 

meines Gewebes. 
Caterpillars. P. 22: Heuschrecken. 

The chance medley of existence. P. 23: Das unschuldige Verbrechen 

des Daseyns. 
4 



50 

is entitled "Das Miindel," 1 "The Ward," and is evidently in- 
tended as a masculine companion-piece to the fateful story of 
Maria of Moulines, linked to it even in the actual narrative 
itself. An unfortunate, half-crazed man goes about in silence, 
performing little services in an inn where Yorick finds lodging. 
The hostess tells his story. He was once the brilliant son of 
the village miller, was well-educated and gifted with scholarly 
interests and attainments. While instructing some children at 
Moulines, he meets a peasant girl, and love is born between 
them. An avaricious brother opposes Jacques's passion and 
ultimately confines him in secret, spreading the report in Mou- 
lines of his faithlessness to his love. After a tragedy has re- 
leased Jacques from his unnatural bondage, he learns of his 
loved one's death and loses his mental balance through grief. 
Such an addition to the brief pathos of Maria's story, as nar- 
rated by Sterne, such a forced explanation of the circum- 
stances, is peculiarly commonplace and inartistic. Sterne in- 
stinctively closed the episode with sufficient allowance for the 
exercise of the imagination. 

Following this addition, the section "Slander" of the original 
is omitted. The story of the adventure with the opera-girl is 
much changed. The bald indecency of the narrative is some- 
what softened by minor substitutions and omissions. Nearly 
two pages are inserted here, in which Yorick discourses on the 
difference between a sentimental traveler and an avanturier. 
On pages 122-126, the famous "Hiindchen" episode is narrated, 
an insertion taking the place of the hopelessly vulgar "Rue 
Tireboudin." According to this narrative, Yorick, after the 
fire, enters a home where he finds a boy weeping over a dead 
dog and refusing to be comforted with promises of other canine 
possessions. The critics united in praising this as being a pos- 
itive addition to the Yorick adventures, as conceived and related 
in Sterne's finest manner. After the lapse of more than a cen- 
tury, one can acknowledge the pathos, the humanity of the inci- 
dent, but the manner is not that of Sterne. It is a simple, 
straight-forward relation of the touching incident, introducing 

1 Bode's story, "Das Miindel" was printed in the Hamburgische Adress-Comptoir- 
Nachrichten, 1769, p. 729 (November 23) and p. 753 (December 4). 



51 

that element of the sentimental movement which bears in Ger- 
many a close relation to Yorick, and was exploited, perhaps, 
more than any other feature of his creed, as then interpreted, 
i. e., the sentimental regard for the lower animals. 1 But there 
is lacking here the inevitable concomitant of Sterne's relation 
of a sentimental situation, the whimsicality of the narrator in 
his attitude at the time of the adventure, or reflective whimsical- 
ity in the narration. Sterne is always whimsically quizzical in 
his conduct toward a sentimental condition, or toward himself 
in the analysis of his conduct. 

After the "Vergebene Nachforschung" (Unsuccessful In- 
quiry), which agrees with the original, Bode adds two pages 
covering the touching solicitude of La Fleur for his master's 
safety. This addition is, like the "Hiindchen" episode, just 
mentioned, of considerable significance, for it illustrates an- 
other aspect of Sterne's sentimental attitude toward human 
relations, which appealed to the Germany of these decades 
and was extensively copied ; the connection between master and 
man. Following this added incident, Bode omits completely 
three sections of Eugenius's original narrative, "The Defini- 
tion," ''Translation of a Fragment" and "An Anecdote;" all 
three are brief and at the same time of baldest, most revolting 
indecency. In all, Bode's direct additions amount in this first 
volume to about thirty-three pages out of one hundred and 
forty-two. The divergences from the original are in the sec- 
ond volume (the fourth as numbered from Sterne's genuine 
Journey) more marked and extensive: above fifty pages are 
entirely Bode's own, and the individual alterations in word, 
phrase, allusion and sentiment are more numerous and unwar- 
ranted. The more significant of Bode's additions are here 
noted. "Die Moral" (pages 32-37) contains a fling at Col- 
lier, the author of a mediocre English translation of Klopstock's 
"Messias," and another against Kolbele, a contemporary Ger- 

1 There will be frequent occasion to mention this impulse emanating from 
Sterne, in the following pages. One may note incidentally an anonymous book 
"Freundschaften" (Leipzig, 1775) in which the author beholds a shepherd who finds 
a torn lamb and indulges in a sentimental reverie upon it. Allg. deutsche Bibl., 
XXXVI, 1, 139. 



52 

man novelist, whose productions have long since been for- 
gotten. 1 

Eugenius's chapter, "Vendredi-Saint," Bode sees fit to alter 
in a rather extraordinary way, by changing the personnel and 
giving it quite another introduction. He inserts here a brief 
account of Walter Shandy, his disappointment at Tristram's 
calamitous nose and Tristram's name, and his resolve to per- 
fect his son's education; and then he makes the visit to M'lle 
Laborde, as narrated by Eugenius, an episode out of Walter 
Shandy's book, which was written for Tristram's instruction, 
and, according to Bode, was delivered for safe-keeping into 
Yorick's hands. Bode changes M'lle Laborde into M'lle Gil- 
let, and Walter Shandy is her visitor, not Yorick. Bode al- 
lows himself some verbal changes and softens the bald sug- 
gestion at the end. Bode's motive for this startling change is 
not clear beyond question. The most plausible theory is that 
the open and gross suggestion of immoral relation between 
Yorick, the clergyman and moralist, and the Paris maiden, 
seemed to Bode inconsistent with the then current acceptation 
of Yorick's character ; and hence he preferred by artifice to 
foist the misdemeanor on to the elder Shandy. 

The second extensive addition of Bode's in this volume is the 
section called "Die Erklarung," and its continuation in the two 
following divisions, a story which unites itself with the "Frag- 
ment" in Sterne's original narration. Yorick is ill and herbs 
are brought to him in paper wrappings which turn out to con- 
tain the story of the decayed gentleman, which, according to 
Sterne's relation, the Notary was beginning to write. It will be 
remembered that the introduction in Sterne was also brought 
by La Fleur as a bit of wrapping paper. This curious coin- 
cidence, this prosaic resumption of the broken narrative, is 
naive at least, but can hardly commend itself to any critic as 
being other than commonplace and bathetic. The story itself, 

1 Bode inserts "Miss Judith Meyer" and "Miss Philippine Damiens," two poor 
novels by this Kolbele in place of Eugenius's "Pilgrim's Progress." Bottiger com- 
ments, "statt des im englischen Original angefuhrten schalen Romans 'The Pil- 
grim's Progress.' " Bode, in translating Shandy several years later, inserts for the 
same book, "Thousand and one Nights." In speaking of this, Bottiger calls "Pil- 
grim's Progress" "die schale englandische Robinsonade," an eloquent proof of 
Bottiger's ignorance of English literature. 



53 

as related by the dying man is a tale of accidental incest told 
quietly, earnestly, but without a suggestion of Sterne's wit or 
sentiment. 

In the next section, emanating entirely from Bode, "Vom 
Gesundheitstrinken," the author is somewhat more successful 
in catching the spirit of Sterne in his buoyancy, and in his 
whimsical anecdote telling: it purports to be an essay by the 
author's friend, Grubbius. The last addition made by Bode 1 
introduces once more Yorick's sentiment relative to man's 
treatment of the animal world. Yorick, walking in the garden 
of an acquaintance, shoots a sparrow and meets with reproof 
from the owner of the garden. Yorick protests prosaically 
that it was only a sparrow, yet on being assured that it was 
also a living being, he succumbs to vexation and self-reproof 
at his own failure to be true to his own higher self. A similar 
regret, a similar remorse at sentimental thoughtlessness, is re- 
corded of the real Yorick in connection with the Franciscan, 
Lorenzo. But there is present in Sterne's story the inevitable 
element of caprice in thought or action, the whimsical incon- 
sistency of varying moods, not a mere commonplace lapse from 
a sentimental creed. In one case, Yorick errs through whim, 
in the other, merely through heedlessness. 

Bode's attitude toward the continuation of Eugenius and the 
general nature of his additions have been suggested by the 
above account. A resume of the omissions and the verbal 
changes would indicate that they were made frequently be- 
cause of the indecency of the original ; the transference of the 
immorality in the episode of M'lle. Laborde and Walter 
Shandy, if the reason above suggested be allowed, is further 
proof of Bode's solicitude for Yorick's moral reputation. Yet 
the retention of the episode "Les Gants d'Amour" in its en- 
tirety, and of parts of the continued story of the Piedmontese, 
may seem inconsistent and irreconcilable with any absolute ob- 
jection on Bode's part other than a quantitative one, to this 
loathesome element of the Eugenius narrative. 

Albrecht Wittenberg 2 in a letter to Jacobi, dated Hamburg, 

1 Pp. 1 66 ff. 

2 Quellen und Forschungen, XXII, p. 129. 



54 

April 21, 1769, says he reads that Riedel is going to continue 
"Yorick's Reisen," and comments upon the exceedingly diffi- 
cult undertaking. Nothing further is known of this plan of 
Riedel's. 



CHAPTER IV 

STERNE IN GERMANY AFTER THE PUBLICATION 
OF THE SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY 

The publication of the Sentimental Journey, as implied in the 
orevious chapter, brought Sterne into vital connection with 
literary impulses and emotional experiences in Germany, and 
his position as a leader was at once recognized. Because of 
the immediate translations, the reviews of the English original 
are markedly few, even in journals which gave considerable 
attention to English literary affairs. The Nene Bibliothek der 
schonen Wissenschaften 1 purposely delays a full review of the 
book because of the promised translation, and contents itself 
with the remark, "that we have not read for a long time any- 
thing more full of sentiment and humor." Yet, strangely 
enough, the translation is never worthily treated, only the new 
edition of 1771 is mentioned, 2 with especial praise of Fiiger's 
illustrations. 

Other journals devote long reviews to the new favorite: ac- 
cording to the Jcnaische Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen 3 all 
the learned periodicals vied with one another in lavish bestowal 
of praise upon these Journeys. The journals consulted go far 
toward justifying this statement. 

The Allgemeinc dcutsche Bibliothek reviews both the Bode 
and Mittelstedt renderings, together with Bode's translation of 
Stevenson's continuation, in the second volume of the Anhang 
to Volumes I-XII. 4 The critique of Bode's work defines, 
largely in the words of the book itself, the peculiar purpose and 
method of the Journey, and comments briefly but with frank 
enthusiasm on the various touching incidents of the narrative : 

1 VI, 1, p. 166. 1768. 

2 XII, 1, p. 142. 

3 August 28, 1769. P. 574. 

4 Pp. 896-9. 

55 



56 

"Nur ein von der Natur verwahrloseter bleibt dabei kalt und 
gleichgiiltig," remarks the reviewer. The conception of 
Yorick's personal character, which prevailed in Germany, ob- 
tained by a process of elimination and misunderstanding, is 
represented by this critic when he records without modifying 
his statement: "Various times Yorick shows himself as the 
most genuine foe of self-seeking, of immoral double entendre, 
and particularly of assumed seriousness, and he scourges them 
emphatically." The review of the third and fourth parts con- 
tains a similar and perhaps even more significant passage illus- 
trating the view of Yorick's character held by those who did 
not know him and had the privilege of admiring him only in 
his writings and at a safe distance. "Yorick," he says, "al- 
though he sometimes brings an event, so to speak, to the brink 
of an indecorous issue, manages to turn it at once with the 
greatest delicay to a decorous termination. Or he leaves it 
incomplete under such circumstances that the reader is im- 
pressed by the rare delicacy of mind of the author, and can 
never suspect that such a man, who never allows a double en- 
tendre to enter his mind without a blush, has entertained an 
indecent idea." This view is derived from a somewhat short- 
sighted reading of the Sentimental Journey : the obvious Sterne 
of Tristram Shandy, and the more insidiously concealed creator 
of the Journey could hardly be characterized discriminatingly 
by such a statement. Sterne's cleverness consists not in sug- 
gesting his own innocence of imagination, but in the skill with 
which he assures his reader that he is master of the situation, 
and that no possible interpretation of the passage has escaped 
his intelligence. To the Mittelstedt translation is accorded in 
this review the distinction of being, in the rendering of certain 
passages, more correct than Bode's. A reviewer in the Hal- 
lische Neue Gelehrte Zeitung 1 treats of the Sentimental Jour- 
ney in the Mittelstedt translation. He is evidently unfamiliar 
with the original and does not know of Bode's work, yet his 
admiration is unbounded, though his critique is without dis- 
tinction or discrimination. The Neue Critische Nachrichten 2 

1 III, pp. 689-91, October 31, 1768. 

2 V, No. s, p. 37, 1769, review is signed "Z." 



57 

of Greifswald gives a review of Bode's rendering in which a 
parallel with Shakespeare is suggested. The original mingling 
of instruction and waggery is commented upon, imitation is 
discouraged, and the work is held up as a test, through appre- 
ciation or failure to appreciate, of a reader's ability to follow 
another's feelings, to understand far-away hints and allusions, 
to follow the tracks of an irregular and errant wit. 

The Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent for Oc- 
tober 29, 1768, regards the book in Bode's translation as an in- 
dividual, unparalleled work of genius and discourses at length 
upon its beneficent medicinal effects upon those whose minds 
and hearts are perplexed and clouded. The wanton passages 
are acknowledged, but the reviewer asserts that the author 
must be pardoned them for the sake of his generous and kind- 
hearted thoughts. The Mittelstedt translation is also quoted 
and parallel passages are adduced to demonstrate the superior- 
ity of Bode's translation. 

The Germans naturally learned to know the continuation of 
Eugenius chiefly through Bode's translation, designated as the 
third and fourth volumes of the work, and thus because of the 
sanction of the intermediary, were led to regard Stevenson's 
tasteless, tedious and revolting narrative with a larger measure 
of favor than would presumably have been accorded to the 
original, had it been circulated extensively in Germany. After 
years the Allgemeine Literatur Zeitung 1 implies incidentally 
that Bode's esteeming this continuation worthy of his atten- 
tion is a fact to be taken into consideration in judging its 
merits, and states that Bode beautified it. Bode's additions 
and alterations were, as has been pointed out, all directly along 
the line of the Yorick whom the Germans had made for them- 
selves. It is interesting to observe that the reviewer of these 
two volumes of the continuation in the Neue Critische Nach- 
richten, 2 while recognizing the inevitability of failure in such a 
bold attempt, and acknowledging that the outward form of 
the work may by its similarity be at first glance seductive, notes 
two passages of sentiment "worthy even of a Yorick," — the 

1 1794, IV, p. 62, October 7. 

2 Greifswald, VI, p. 300. 



58 

episode "Das Hundchen" and the anecdote of the sparrows 
which the traveler shot in the garden: both are additions on 
Bode's part, and have no connection with the original. The 
reviewer thus singled out for especial approval two interpo- 
lations by the German translator, incidents which in their 
conception and narration have not the true English Yorick 
ring. 

The success of the Sentimental Journey increased the in- 
terest in the incomprehensible Shandy. Lange's new edition 
of Ziickert's translation has been noted, and before long Bode 1 
was induced to undertake a German rendering of the earlier 
and longer novel. This translation was finished in the sum- 
mer of 1774, the preface being dated "End of August." The 
foreword is mainly concerned with Goeze's attack on Bode's 
personal character, a thrust founded on Bode's connection with 
the Sentimental Journey and its continuation. At the close of 
this introduction Bode says that, without undervaluing the in- 
telligence of his readers, he had regarded notes as essential, 
but because of his esteem for the text, and a parental affection 
for the notes, he has foreborne to insert them here. "So they 
still lie in my desk, as many as there are of them, but upon 
pressing hints they might be washed and combed, and then 
be published under the title perhaps of a 'Real und Verballex- 
icon iiber Tristram Shandy's Leben und Meinungen.' ' : This 
hint of a work of his own, serving as a commentary to Tristram 
Shandy, has been the occasion of some discussion. A reviewer 
in the Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek, 2 in an account of Bode's 
and Wichmann's renderings of "Tom Jones," begs Bode to ful- 
fill the hopes thus raised, saying he could give Yorick's friends 
no more valuable or treasured gift. Bottiger in his biograph- 
ical sektch of Bode expressed regret that the work never saw 
the light, adding that the work contained so many allusions to 
contemporary celebrities and hits upon Bode's acquaintance 
that wisdom had consigned to oblivion. 3 A correspondent, 
writing to the Teutscher Merkur/ minimizes the importance of 

1 See p. 42. 

-Anhang LIII-LXXXVI. Vol. V, pp. 2611-2614. 

3 This is repeated by Jordens. 

1 1799. I, p. 36. 



59 

this so-called commentary, saying "er hatte nie einen Kommen- 
tar der Art, . . . audi nur angefangen auszuarbeiten. Die 
ganze Sache griindet sich auf eine scherzhafte Aeusserung 
gegen seinem damaligen Freund in Hamburg, welchen er oft 
mit der ihm eignen Ironie mit diesem Kommentar zu drohen 
pflegte." 

The list of subscribers to Bode's translation contained up- 
wards of 650 names, among which are Boie, Claudius, Einsie- 
der, Gerstenberg, Gleim, Fraulein von Gochhausen, Goethe, 
Hamann, Herder, Hippel, Jacobi, Klopstock, Schummel, Wie- 
land (five copies), and Zimmermann. The names of Ebert and 
Lessing are not on the list. The number of subscribers in 
Mitau (twelve) is worthy of note, as illustrating the interest 
in Sterne still keenly alive in this small and far away town, un- 
doubtedly a direct result of the admiration so lavishly expressed 
in other years by Herder, Hamann and their circle. 

The translation was hailed then as a masterly achievement 
of an arduous task, the difficulties of which are only the less 
appreciated because of the very excellence of the performance. 
It contrasts most strikingly with its clumsy predecessor in its 
approximation to Sterne's deftness of touch, his delicate turns 
of phrase, his seemingly obvious and facile, but really delicate 
and accurate choice of expression. Ziickert was heavy, com- 
monplace, uncompromisingly literal and bristling with inac- 
curacies. Bode's work was unfortunately not free from errors 
in spite of its general excellence, yet it brought the book within 
reach of those who were unable to read it in English, and 
preserved, in general with fidelity, the spirit of the original. 
The reviews were prodigal of praise. Wieland's expressions 
of admiration were full-voiced and extensive. 1 

The Wandsbecker Bothe for October 28, 1774, asserts that 
many readers in England had not understood the book as well 
as Bode, a frequent expression of inordinate commendation ; 
that Bode follows close on the heels of Yorick on his most in- 
timate expeditions. The Frankfurter Gelehrte Anseigen 2 
copies in full the translation of the first chapter as both 

1 Teut. Merkur, VIII, pp. 247-251. 

2 April 21, 1775, pp. 267-70. 



60 

Zuckert and Bode rendered it, and praises the latter in unqual- 
ified terms; Bode appears as "Yorick's rescuer." Several 
years later, in the Deutsches Museum, the well-known French 
translation of Shandy by Frenais is denounced as intolerable 
(unertraglich) to a German who is acquainted with Bode's, 1 
an opinion emphasized later in the same magazine 2 by Joseph 
von Retzer. Indeed, upon these two translations from Sterne 
rests Bode's reputation as a translator. His "Tom Jones" was 
openly criticised as bearing too much of Sterne, 3 so great was 
the influence of Yorick upon the translator. Klamer Schmidt 
in a poem called "Klamersruh, eine landlich malerische Dich- 
tung," 4 dilating upon his favorite authors during a country 
winter, calls Bode "our Sterne" and "the ideal translator," 
and in some verses by the same poet, quoted in the article on 
Bode in Schlichtegroll's "Nekrolog," 5 is found a very signifi- 
cant stanza expressing Sterne's immeasurable obligation to his 
German translator : 

"Er geht zu dir nun, unser Bode ! 
Empfang ihn, Yoriks Geist ! Auch dein 
Erbarmt er sich, 
Errettete vom Tode 
Der Uebersetzer dich !" 

Matthison in his "Grass aus der Heimath," 6 pays similar 
tribute in a vision connected with a visit to Bode's resting-place 
in Weimar. It is a fanciful relation : as Bode's shade is re- 
ceived with jubilation and delight in the Elysian Fields by Cer- 
vantes, Rabelais, Montaigne, Fielding and Sterne, the latter 
censures Bode for distrusting his own creative power, indicat- 
ing that he might have stood with the group just enumerated, 
that the fame of being "the most excellent transcriber" of his 
age should not have sufficed. 

In view of all this marked esteem, it is rather surprising to 

1 Hirsching (see above) says it rivals the original. 

2 The references to the Deutsches Museum are respectively IX, pp. 273-284, 
April, 1780, and X, pp. 553-5. 

8 See Jordens I, p. 117, probably depending on the critique in the Allg. deutsche 
Bibl. Anhang, LIII-LXXXVI, Vol. V, pp. 2611-2614. 
* Erholungen III, pp. 1-5 1. 
6 Supplementband fur 1790-93, p. 410. 
8 Werke, Zurich, 1825-29, pp. 312 ff. 



61 

find a few years later a rather sweeping, if apologetic, attack 
on the rendering of Shandy. J. L. Benzler, the librarian of 
Graf Stolberg at Wernigerode, published in 1801 a translation 
of Shandy which bore the legend "Newly translated into Ger- 
man," but was really a new edition of Bode's work with various 
corrections and alterations. 1 Benzler claims in his preface that 
there had been no translation of the masterpiece worthy of the 
original, and this was because the existing translation was from 
the pen of Bode, in whom one had grown to see the very ideal 
of a translator, and because praise had been so lavishly be- 
stowed on the work by the critics. He then asserts that Bode 
never made a translation which did not teem with mistakes ; 
he translated incorrectly through insufficient knowledge of 
English, confusing words which sound alike, made his author 
say precisely the opposite of what he really did say, was often 
content with the first best at hand, with the half-right, and 
often erred in taste ; — a wholesale and vigorous charge. After 
such a disparagement, Benzler disclaims all intention to be- 
little Bode, or his service, but he condescendingly ascribes 
Bode's failure to his lowly origin, his lack of systematic educa- 
tion, and of early association with the cultured world. Benzler 
takes Bode's work as a foundation and rewrites. Some of his 
changes are distinctly advantageous, and that so few of 
these errors in Bode's translation were noted by contemporary 
critics is a proof of their ignorance of the original, or their 
utter confidence in Bode. 2 Benzler in his preface of justifica- 
tion enumerates several extraordinary blunders 3 and then con- 
cludes with a rather inconsistent parting thrust at Bode, the 
perpetrator of such nonsense, at the critics who could over- 
look such errors and praise the work inordinately, and at the 

1 "Tristram Shandy's Leben und Meynungen von neuem verdeutscht, Leipzig, 
1801, I, pp. 572; II, pp. 532; III, pp. 430. Mit 3 Kupfern und 3 Vignetten nach 
Chodowiecki von J. F. Schroter." A new edition appeared at Hahn's in Hanover 
in 1810. This translation is not given by Goedeke under Benzler's name. 

2 Wieland does modify his enthusiasm by acknowledgment of inadequacies and 
devotes about a page of his long review to the correction of seven incorrect ren- 
derings. Tout. Merkur, VIII, pp. 247-51, 1774, IV. 

3 The following may serve as examples of Bode's errors. He translated, "Pray, 
what was your father saying?" (I, 6) by "Was wollte denn Ihr Vater damit sagen?" 
a rendering obviously inadequate. "It was a little hard on her" (I, p. 52) becomes 
in Bode, "Welches sie nun freilich schwer ablegen konnte;" and "Great wits 
jump" (I, 168) is translated "grosse Meister fehlen auch." 



62 

public who ventured to speak with delight of the work, know- 
ing it only in such a rendering. Benzler was severely taken 
to task in the Neue Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothck 1 for his 
shamelessness in rewriting Bode's translation with such com- 
paratively insignificant alterations, for printing on the title 
page in brazen effrontery "newly translated into German," 
and for berating Bode for his failure after cursing him with 
condescension. Passages are cited to demonstrate the compar- 
ative triviality of Benzler's work. A brief comparison of the 
two translations shows that Benzler often translates more cor- 
rectly than his predecessor, but still more often makes mean- 
ingless alterations in word-order, or in trifling words where 
nothing is to be gained by such a change. 

The same year Benzler issued a similar revision of the Sen- 
timental Journey, 2 printing again on the title page "newly 
translated into German." The Neue Allgemeine deutsche 
Bibliothek 5 greets this attempt with a similar tart review, con- 
taining parallel quotations as before, proving Benzler's incon- 
siderate presumption. Here Benzler had to face Bode's asser- 
tion that both Lessing and Ebert had assisted in the work, and 
that the former had in his kindness gone through the whole 
book. Benzler treats this fact rather cavalierly and renews 
his attack on Bode's rendering. Benzler resented this review 
and replied to it in a later number of the same periodical. 4 

Now that a century and more has elapsed, and personal acri- 
mony can no longer play any part in criticism, one may justly 
admit Benzler's service in calling attention to inaccurate and 
inadequate translation, at the same time one must condemn 
utterly his manner of issuing his emendations. In 183 1 there 
appeared a translation of Tristram Shandy which was again 
but a revision of Bode's work. It bore on the title page "Neu 
iibertragen von W. H.," and contained a sketch of Sterne's 
life. 5 

In the nineties there seemed to be a renewal of Yorick en- 

l LXXIII, pp. 75-81. 

2 Leipzig, 1801, 8°, I, 168; II, 170. 2 Kupf. und 2 Vignetten nach Chodowiecki 
von G. Bottiger. 

■LXXIX, pp. 371-377. 

*LXXXII, 1, p. 199. 

6 Magdeburg, I, pp, 188; II, pp. 192; III, pp. 154; IV, pp. 168; V, pp. 236. 



63 

thusiasm, and at this time was brought forth, at Halle in 1794, 
a profusely annotated edition of the Sentimental Journey, 1 
which was, according to the anonymous editor, a book not to 
be read, but to be studied. Claim is made that the real mean- 
ing of the book may be discovered only after several careful 
readings, that "empfindsam" in some measure was here used 
in the sense of philosophical, that the book should be treated as 
a work of philosophy, though clad in pleasing garb ; that it 
should be thought out according to its merits, not merely read. 
Yorick's failure to supply his chapters with any significant or 
alluring chapter-headings (probably the result of indolence on 
his part) is here interpreted as extraordinary sagacity, for he 
thereby lessens the expectations and heightens the effect. 
"Eine Empfindungs-reise" is declared to be a more suitable 
name than "Empfindsame Reise," and comment is made upon 
the purpose of the Journey, the gathering of material for ana- 
tomical study of the human heart. The notes are numerous 
and lengthy, constituting a quarter to a third of the book, but 
are replete with padding, pointless babble and occasional 
puerile inaccuracies. They are largely attempts to explain and 
to moralize upon Yorick's emotions, — a verbose, childish, wit- 
less commentary. The Wortregister contains fourteen pages 
in double columns of explanations, in general differing very 
little from the kind of information given in the notes. The 
Allgemeine Litter atur Zeitung 2 devotes a long review chiefly 
to the explanation of the errors in this volume, not the least 
striking of which is the explanation of the reference to Smel- 
fungus, whom everyone knows to have been Smollett: "This 
learned Smelfungus appears to have written nothing but the 
Journey which is here mentionad." 3 As an explanation of the 
initial "H" used by Sterne for Hume, the note is given, "The 
author 'H' was perhaps a poor one." 4 

Sterne's letters were issued first in London in 1775, a rather 
surprisingly long time after his death, when one considers how 

1 A Sentimental Journey, mit erlauternden Anmerkungen und einem Wort- 
register. 

2 Jena, 1795, II, pp. 427-30. 

3 P. 49- 

4 The edition is also reviewed in the Erfurtische Gelehrte Zeitung (1796, p. 294.) 



64 

great was Yorick's following. According to the prefatory note 
of Lydia Sterne de Medalle in the collection which she edited 
and published, it was the wish of Mrs. Sterne that the corre- 
spondence of her husband, which was in her possession, be not 
given to the world, unless other letters bearing his name should 
be published. This hesitation on her part must be interpreted 
in such a way as to cast a favorable light on this much 
maligned gentlewoman, as a delicate reticence on her part, a 
desire to retain these personal documents for herself. 1 The 
power of this sentiment must be measured by her refrain- 
ing from publishing during the five years which intervened 
between her husband's death and her own, March, 1768 to Jan- 
uary, 1773 — years which were embittered by the distress of 
straitened circumstances. It will be remembered that an effort 
was made by Mrs. Sterne and her daughter to retrieve their 
fortunes by a life of Sterne which was to be a collaboration by 
Stevenson and Wilkes, and urgent indeed was Lydia Sterne's 
appeal to these friends of her father to fulfill their promises 
and lend their aid. Even when this hope had to be abandoned 
early in 1770, through the faithlessness of Sterne's erstwhile 
companions, the widow and daughter turned to other possi- 
bilities rather than to the correspondence, though in the latter 
lay a more assured means of accomplishing a temporary revival 
of their prosperity. This is an evidence of fine feeling on the 
part of Sterne's widow, with which she has never been duly 
credited. 

But an anonymous editor published early in 1775 2 a volume 
entitled "Letters from Yorick to Eliza," a brief little collection, 
the source of which has never been clear, but whose genuine- 
ness has never been questioned. The editor himself waives all 
claim to proof "which might be drawn concerning their au- 
thenticity from the character of the gentleman who had the 
perusal of them, and with Eliza's permission, faithfully copied 
them at Bombay." 

1 The threat of Mrs. Sterne and her daughter to publish the letters to Mrs. 
Draper would seem to be at variance with this idea of Mrs. Sterne's character, but 
her resentment or indignation, and a personal satisfaction at her former rival's 
discomfiture are inevitable, and femininely human. 

2 They are reviewed in the April number of the Monthly Review (LII, pp. 370- 
371, and in the April number of the London Magazine (XLIV, pp. 200-201). 



65 

In July of this same year 1 was published a volume entitled 
"Sterne's Letters to His Friends on Various Occasions, to 
which is added his History of a Watchcoat with Explanatory 
Notes," containing twelve letters (one by Dr. Eustace) and the 
watchcoat story. Some of these letters had appeared pre- 
viously in British magazines, and one, copied from the London 
Magazine, was translated in the Wandsbecker Bothe for April 

1 6, 1774. 2 A translation of the same letter was given in the 
Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitungen, 1774, pp. 286-7. Three of 
these letters only are accepted by Prof. Saintsbury (Nos. 7, 124, 
the letter of Dr. Eustace, and 125). Of the others, Nos. 4-1 1 
have been judged as of doubtful authenticity. Two of them, 
Nos. 11 and 12 ("I beheld her tender look" and "I feel the 
weight of obligation") are in the standard ten-volume edition 
of Sterne, 3 but the last letter is probably spurious also. 

The publication of the letters from Yorick to Eliza was the 
justification afforded Lydia Sterne de Medalle for issuing her 
father's correspondence according to her mother's request : the 
other volume was not issued till after it was known that 
Sterne's daughter was engaged in the task of collecting and 
editing his correspondence. Indeed, the editor expressly 
states in his preface that it is not the purpose of the book to 
forestall Mme. Medalle's promised collection ; that the letters 
in this volume are not to be printed in hers. 4 Mme. Medalle 
added to her collection the "Fragment in the manner of Rabe- 
lais" and the invaluable, characteristic scrap of autobiography, 
which was written particularly for "my Lydia." The work 

1 It is noted among the publications in the July number of the London Magazine, 
XLIV, p. 371, and is reviewed in the September number of the Monthly Review, 
LIII, pp. 266-267. It was really published on July 12. {The Nation, November 

17, 1904-) 

2 The letter beginning "The first time I have dipped my pen in the ink-horn," 
addressed to Mrs. M-d-s and dated Coxwould, July 21, 1765. The London Magazine 
0775. PP- 530-53 1) also published the eleventh letter of the series, that concerning 
the unfortunate Harriet: "I beheld her tender look." 

3 Dodsley, etc., 1793. 

4 Two letters, however, were given in both volumes, the letter to Mrs. M-d-s, 
"The first time I have dipped," etc., and that to Garrick, " 'Twas for all the world 
like a cut," etc., being in the Mme. Medalle collection, Nos. 58 and yy (II, pp. 126- 
131, 188-192) and in the anonymous collection Nos. 1 and 5. The first of these two 
letters was without indication of addressee in the anonymous collection, and was 
later directed to Eugenius (in the American edition, Harrisburg, 1805). 

5 



66 

appeared at Becket's in three volumes, and the dedication to 
Garrick was dated June, 1775 ; but, as the notice in the Monthly 
Review for October 1 asserts that they have "been published 
but a few days," this date probably represents the time of the 
completion of the task, or the inception of the printer's work. 2 
During the same year the spurious letters from Eliza to Yorick 
were issued. 

Naturally Sterne's letters found readers in Germany, the 
Yorick-Eliza correspondence being especially calculated to 
awaken response. 3 The English edition of the "Letters from 
Yorick to Eliza" was reviewed in the Neue Bibliothek der 
schonen Wissenschaften* with a hint that the warmth of the 
letters might easily lead to a suspicion of unseemly relationship, 
but the reviewer contends that virtue and rectitude are pre- 
served in the midst of such extraordinary tenderness, so that 
one may interpret it as a Platonic rather than a sensual affec- 
tion. Yet this review cannot be designated as distinctive of 
German opinion, for it contains no opinion not directly to be 
derived from the editor's foreword, and that alone ; indeed, the 
wording suggests decidedly that source. The Gothaische 
Gelehrte Zeitung 5 for April 15, 1775, reviews the same English 
edition, but the notice consists of an introductory statement of 
Eliza's identity and translation of parts of three letters, the 
"Lord Bathurst letter," the letter involving the criticism of 
Eliza's portraits, 6 and the last letter to Eliza. The translation 
is very weak, abounding in elementary errors; for example, 
"She has got your picture and likes it" becomes "Sie hat Ihr 
Bildniss gemacht, es ist ahnlich," and "I beheld you ... as a 
very plain woman" is rendered "und hielt Sie fur nichts anders 

1 LIII, pp. 340-344. The publication was October 25. See The Nation, Novem- 
ber 17, 1904. 

2 The London Magazine gives the first announcement among the books for Oc- 
tober (Vol. XLVI, p. 538), but does not review the collection till December 
(XLIV, p. 649). 

3 Some selections from these letters were evidently published before their 
translation in the Englische Allgemeine Bibliothek. See Frankfurter Gel. Am., 
1775, p. 667. 

1 XVIII, p. 177, 1775. 
5 177s. I. PP- 243-246. 
• Letters Nos. 83 and 86. 



67 

als eine Frau." The same journal, 1 August 5, reviews the 
second collection of Sterne's letters, but there is no criticism, 
merely an introductory statement taken from the preface, and 
the translation of two letters, the one to Mistress V., "Of two 
bad cassocs, fair lady," and the epistle beginning, "I snatch half 
an hour while my dinner is getting ready." The Gottingische 
Gelehrte Anzeigen, 1776, p. 382, also gives in a review informa- 
tion concerning this anonymous collection, but no criticism. 

One would naturally look to Hamburg for translations of 
these epistles. In the very year of their appearance in England 
we find "Yorick's Briefe an Eliza," Hamburg, bey C. E. Bohn, 
1775 ; 2 "Briefe von Eliza an Yorick," Hamburg, bey Bode, 
1775; and "Briefe von (Yorick) Sterne an seine Freunde nebst 
seiner Geschichte eines Ueberrocks," Hamburg, bey Bohn, 1775. 
The translator's name is not given, but there is every reason 
to suppose that it was the faithful Bode, though only the first 
volume is mentioned in Jordens' account of him, and under his 
name in Goedeke's "Grundriss." Contemporary reviewers 
attributed all three books to Bode, and internal evidence goes to 
prove it. 3 

The first volume contains no translator's preface, and the 
second, the spurious Eliza letters, only a brief footnote to the 
translation of the English preface. In this note Bode's iden- 
tity is evident in the following quotation: He says he has 
translated the letters "because I believe that they will be read 
with pleasure, and because I fancy I have a kind of vocation to 
give in German everything that Sterne has written, or what- 
ever has immediate relation to his writings." This note is 
dated Hamburg, September 16, 1775. In the third volume, 
the miscellaneous collection, there is a translator's preface in 
which again Bode's hand is evident. He says he knows by sure 
experience that Sterne's writings find readers in Germany; he 
is assured of the authenticity of the letters, but is in doubt 
whether the reader is possessed of sufficient knowledge of the 

1 1775, 11, p. 510. 

2 This volume was noted by Jenaische Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen, Septem- 
ber, 4, 1775. 

8 A writer in Schlichtegroll's "Nekrolog" says that Bode's own letters to "einige 
seiner vertrauten Freundinnen" in some respects surpass those of Yorick to Eliza. 



68 

attending circumstances to render intelligible the allusion of the 
watchcoat story. To forfend the possibility of such dubious 
appreciation, the account of the watchcoat episode is copied 
word for word from Bode's introduction to the "Empfindsame 
Reise." 1 

In this same year, an unknown translator issued in a single 
volume a rendering of these three collections. 2 The following 
year Mme. Medalle's collection was brought out in Leipzig in 
an anonymous translation, which has been attributed to Chris- 
tian Felix Weisse. 3 Its title was "Lorenz Sterne's Briefe an 
seine vertrautesten Freunde nebst einem Fragment im Ge- 
schmack des Rabelais und einer von ihm selbst verfassten 
Nachricht von seinem Leben und seiner Familie, herausgegeben 
von seiner Tochter Mad. Medalle," Leipzig, 1776, pp. xxviii, 
391. Weidmanns Erben und Reich. 

Bode's translation of Yorick's letters to Eliza is reviewed in 
the Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitung, August 9, 1775, with quota- 
tion of the second letter in full. The same journal notes the 
translation of the miscellaneous collection, November 4, 1775, 
giving in full the letter of Dr. Eustace and Sterne's reply. 4 
The Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek 6 reviews together the three 
Hamburg volumes (Bode) and the Leipzig volume containing 
the same letters. The utter innocence, the unquestionably Pla- 
tonic character of the relations between Yorick and Eliza is 
accepted fully. With keen, critical judgment the reviewer is 
inclined to doubt the originality of the Eliza letters. Two let- 
ters by Yorick are mentioned particularly, letters which bear 
testimony to Yorick's practical benevolence : one describing his 
efforts in behalf of a dishonored maiden, and one concerning 
the old man who fell into financial difficulties. 6 Both the trans- 

1 Another translator would in this case have made direct acknowledgment to 
Bode for the borrowed information, a fact indicating Bode as the translator of the 
volume. 

2 "Lorenz Sterne's oder Yorick's Briefwechsel mit Elisen und seinen iibrigen 
Freunden." Leipzig, Weidmanns Erben und Reich. 1775, 8°. 

3 Weisse is credited with the translation in Kayser, but it is not given under 
his name in Goedeke. 

4 References to the Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitung are p. 518 and p. 721, 1775. 
"XXVIII, 2, p. 489, 1776. 

6 These are, of course, the spurious letters Nos. 8 and 11, "I beheld her tender 
look" and "I have not been a furlong from Shandy-Hall." 



69 

lations win approval, but Bode's is preferred ; they are desig- 
nated as doubtless his. The "Brief e an Elisa" (Bode's trans- 
lation) are noticed in the Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen, Oc- 
tober 3 and 6, 1775, with unrestrained praise of the translator, 
and vigorous asseveration of their authenticity. It is recog- 
nized fully that the relation as disclosed was extraordinary 
among married people, even Sterne's amazing statement con- 
cerning the fragile obstacles which stood in the way of their de- 
sires is noted. Yet the Yorick of these letters is accorded un- 
disguised admiration. His love is exalted above that of Swift 
for Stella, Waller for Sacharissa, Scarron for Maintenon, 1 and 
his godly fear as here exhibited is cited to offset the outspoken 
avowal of dishonoring desire. 2 Hamann in a letter to Herder, 
June 26, 1780, speaks of the Yorick-Eliza correspondence quite 
disparagingly. 3 

In 1787 another volume of Sterne letters was issued in Lon- 
don, giving English and German on opposite pages. 4 There 
are but six letters and all are probably spurious. 

In 1780 there was published a volume of confessedly spuri- 
ous letters entitled "Briefe von Yorick und Elisen, wie sie 
zwischen ihnen konnten geschrieben werden." 5 The introduc- 
tion contains some interesting information for the determina- 
tion of the genuineness of the Sterne letters. 6 The editor 
states that the author had written these letters purely as a di- 
version, that the editor had proposed their publication, but was 
always met with refusal until there appeared in London a 
little volume of letters which their editor emphatically declared 
to be genuine. This is evidently the volume published by the 
anonymous editor in 1775, and our present editor declares that 

1 This is a quotation from one of the letters, but the review repeats it as its own. 

2 For a rather unfavorable criticism of the Yorick-Eliza letters, see letter of 
Wilh. Ludw. Medicus to Hopfner, March 16, 1776, in "Briefe aus dem Freundes- 
kreise von Goethe, Herder, Hopfner und Merck," ed. by K. Wagner, Leipzig, 1847. 

8 Hamann's Schriften, ed. by Roth, VI, p. 145: "Yorick's und Elisens Briefe 
sind nicht der Rede werth." 

4 London, Thomas Cornan, St. Paul's Churchyard, 8°, pp. 63. These letters are 
given in the first American edition, Harrisburg, 1805, pp. 209-218 and 222-226. 

5 Leipzig, Weidmanns Erben und Reich, I, pp. 142; II, pp. 150. 

6 The English original is probably that by William Combe, published in 1779, 
two volumes. This original is reviewed in the Neue Bibl. der schonen Wissen- 
schaften, XXIV, p. 186, 1780. 



70 

he knows Nos. 4-10 were from the same pen as the present 
confessedly spurious collection. They were mere efforts orig- 
inally, but, published in provincial papers, found their way into 
other journals, and the editor goes on to say, that, to his as- 
tonishment, he saw one of these epistles included in Lydia 
Medalle's collection. This is, of course, No. 5, the one begin- 
ning, "The first time I have dipped my pen in the ink-horn." 
These events induced the author to allow the publication. The 
book itself consists mostly of a kind of diary kept by Yorick to 
send to Eliza at Madeira and later to India, and a correspond- 
ing journal written by Eliza on the vessel and at Madeira. 

Yorick's sermons were inevitably less potent in their appeal, 
and the editions and translations were less numerous. In spite 
of obvious effort, Sterne was unable to infuse into his homilet- 
ical discourses any considerable measure of genuine Shande- 
ism, and his sermons were never as widely popular as his two 
novels, either among those who sought him for whimsical pas- 
time or for sentimental emotion. They were sermons. The 
early Swiss translation has been duly noted. 

The third volume of the Zurich edition, which appeared in 
1769, contained the "Reden an Esel," which the reviewer in the 
Allgemeine dcutsche Bibliothek 1 with acute penetration desig- 
nates as spurious. Another translation of these sermons was 
published at Leipzig, according to the editor of a later edition 2 
(Thorn, 1795), in the same year as the Zurich issue, 1769. 

The Berlinische Monatsschrift 3 calls attention to the excel- 
lence of the work and quotes the sermons at considerable 
length. The comment contains the erroneous statement that 
Sterne was a dissenter, and opposed to the established church. 
The translation published at Thorn in 1795, evidently building 
on this information, continues the error, and, in explanation of 
English church affairs, adds as enlightenment the thirty-nine 
articles. This translation is confessedly a working-over of the 
Leipzig translation already mentioned. It is difficult to dis- 

1 XII, 1, pp. 210-21 1. Doubt is also suggested in the Hallische Neue Gelehrte 
Zcitungen, 1769, IV, p. 295. 

1 Reviewed in Allg. Litt. Zeitung, 1798, II, p. 14, without suggestion of doubtful 
authenticity. 

a XX, pp. 79-103, 1792. 



71 

cover how these sermons ever became attached to Sterne's 
name, and one can hardly explain the fact that such a maga- 
zine as the BerUnische Monatsschrift 1 should at that late date 
publish an article so flatly contradictory to everything for 
which Sterne stood, so diametrically opposed to his career, save 
with the understanding that gross ignorance attended the orig- 
inal introduction and early imitation of Yorick, and that this 
incomprehension, or one-sided appreciation of the real Sterne 
persisted in succeeding decades. The German Yorick was the 
champion of the oppressed and downtrodden. The author of 
the "Sermons to Asses" appeared as such an opponent of 
coercion and arbitrary power in church and state, an upholder 
of human rights ; hence, possibly, the authorship of this book 
was attributed to Sterne by something the same process as 
that which, in the age of heroic deeds, associated a miscel- 
laneous collection of performances with a popular hero. The 
"Sermons to Asses" were written by Rev. James Murray 
(1732- 1 782), a noted dissenting minister, long pastor of High 
Bridge Chapel in Newcastle-on-Tyne. They were published 
in London in 1768 and dedicated to G. W., J. W., W. R. and 
M. M. — George Whitfield, John Wesley, William Romaine and 
Martin Madan. The English people are represented as bur- 
den-bearing asses laden with oppression in the shape of taxes 
and creeds. 2 They are directed against the power of the es- 
tablished church. It is needless to state that England never 
associated these sermons with Sterne. 3 The English edition 
was also briefly reviewed in the Hamburgische Adress-Comp- 
toir-Nachrichten 4 without connecting the work with Sterne. 

1 They are still credited to Sterne, though with admitted doubt, in Hirsching 
(1809). It would seem from a letter of Hamann's that Germany also thrust an- 
other work upon Sterne. The letter is directed to Herder: "Ich habe die 
nichtswurdige Grille gehabt einen unformlichen Auszug einer englischen Apologie 
des Rousseau, die den Sterne zum Verfasser haben soil, in die Konigsberger Zeitung 
einflicken zu lassen." See Hamann's Schriften, Roth's edition, III, p. 374. Letter 
is dated July 29, 1767. Rousseau is mentioned in Shandy, III, p. 200, but there is 
no reason to believe that he ever wrote anything about him. 

2 The edition examined is that of William Howe, London, 1819, which contains 
"New Sermons to Asses," and other sermons by Murray. 

3 For reviews see Monthly Review, 1768, Vol. XXXIX, pp. 100-105; Gentleman's 
Magazine, Vol. XXXVIII, p. 188 (April). They were thus evidently published 
early in the year 1768. 

4 1768, p. 220. 



72 

The error was made later, possibly by the translator of the 
Zurich edition. 

The new collection of Sterne's sermons published by Cadell 
in 1769, Vols. V, VI, VII, is reviewed by Unterhaltungen. 1 
A selection from Sterne's sermon on the Prodigal Son was 
published in translation in the Hamburgische Adress-Comptoir- 
Nachrichten for April 13, 1768. The new collection of ser- 
mons was translated by A. E. Klausing and published at 
Leipzig in 1770, containing eighteen sermons. 2 

Both during Sterne's life and after his death books were 
published claiming him as their author. In England contem- 
porary criticism generally stigmatized these impertinent at- 
tempts as dubious, or undoubtedly fraudulent. The spurious 
ninth volume of Shandy has been mentioned. 3 The "Sermons 
to Asses" just mentioned also belong here, and, with reserva- 
tion, also Stevenson's continuation of the Sentimental Jour- 
ney, with its claim to recognition through the continuator's 
statement of his relation to Yorick. There remain also a few 
other books which need to be mentioned because they were 
translated into German and played their part there in shaping 
the German idea of Yorick. In general, it may be said that 
German criticism was never acute in judging these products, 
partially perhaps because they were viewed through the me- 
dium of an imperfectly mastered foreign tongue, a mediocre 
or an adapted translation. These books obtained relatively a 
much more extensive recognition in Germany than in Eng- 
land. 

In 1769 a curious conglomerate was brought over and is- 
sued under the lengthy descriptive title : "Yoricks Betrachtun- 
gen liber verschiedene wichtige und angenehme Gegenstande. 
Nemlich iiber Nichts, Ueber Etwas, Ueber das Ding, Ueber die 
Regierung, Ueber den Toback, Ueber die Nasen, Ueber die 
Ouaksalber, Ueber die Hebammen, Ueber den Homunculus, 
Ueber die Steckenpferde, Ueber das Momusglas, Ueber die 
Ausschweifungen, Ueber die Dunkelkeit im Schreiben, Ueber 

1 VII, p. 360. 

2 Review in Allg. deutsclie Bibl., XIII, i, p. 241. The reviewer is inclined to 
doubt their authenticity. 

3 A spurious third volume was the work of John Carr (1760). 



73 

den Unsinn, Ueber die Verbindung der Ideen, Ueber die 
Hahnreiter, Ueber den Mann in dem Monde, Ueber 
Leibnitzens Monaden, Ueber das was man Vertu nennt, Ueber 
das Gewissen, Ueber die Trunkenheit, Ueber den Nachtstuhl, 
Betrachtungen iiber Betrachtungen. — neque — cum lectulus, 
aut me Porticus excepit, desum mihi, Horat." Frankfurt und 
Leipzig, 1769, 8°. The book purported to be a collection of 
Sterne's earliest lucubrations, and the translator expresses his 
astonishment that no one had ever translated them before, al- 
though they were first issued in 1760. It is without doubt the 
translation of an English volume entitled "Yorick's Meditations 
upon interesting and important subjects," published by Stevens 
in London, 1760. 1 It had been forgotten in England long be- 
fore some German chanced upon it. The preface closes with 
a long doggerel rhyme, which, the translator says, he has pur- 
posely left untranslated. It is, however, beyond the shadow of 
a doubt original with him, as its contents prove.. Yorick in the 
Elysian Fields is supposed to address himself, he "anticipates 
his fate and perceives beforehand that at least one German 
critic would deem him worthy of his applause." 

"Go on, poor Yorik, try once more 
In German Dress, thy fate of yore, 
Expect few Critics, such, as by 
The bucket of Philosophy 
From out the bottom of the well 
May draw the Sense of what you tell 
And spy what wit and Morals sound 
Are in thy Rambles to be found." 

After a passage in which the rhymester enlarges upon the prob- 
ability of distorted judgment, he closes with these lines: 

"Dire Fate ! but for all that no worse, 
You shall be WIELAND'S Hobby-Horse, 
So to HIS candid Name, unbrib'd 
These meditations be inscrib'd." 

This was at the time of Wieland's early enthusiasm, when he 
was probably contemplating, if not actually engaged upon a 
translation of Tristram Shandy. "Thy fate of yore" in the 

1 See Monthly Review, XXIII, p. 84, Juiy 1760, and London Magazine, Monthly 
Catalogue for July and August, 1760. Scott's Magazine, XXII, p. 389, July, 1760. 



74 

second line is evidently a poetaster's acceptation of an obvious 
rhyme and does not set Yorick's German experience appreci- 
ably into the past. The translator supplies frequent footnotes 
explaining the allusions to things specifically English. He 
makes occasional comparison with German conditions, always 
with the claim that Germany is better off, and needs no such 
satire. The Hallische Neue Gelehrte Zeitungen for June I, 
1769, devotes a review of considerable length to this transla- 
tion ; in it the reviewer asserts that one would have recognized 
the father of this creation even if Yorick's name had not stood 
on its forehead ; that it closely resembles its fellows even if one 
must place it a degree below the Journey. The Allgemcine 
Deutsche Bibliothek 1 throws no direct suspicion on the authen- 
ticity, but with customary insight and sanity of criticism finds 
in this early work "a great deal that is insipid and affected." 
The Deutsche Bibliothek der schonen Wisscnschaften, how- 
ever, in a review which shows a keen appreciation of Sterne's 
style, openly avows an inclination to question the authenticity, 
save for the express statement of the translator ; the latter it 
agrees to trust. 2 The book is placed far below the Sentimental 
Journey, below Shandy also, but far above the artificial tone of 
many other writers then popular. This relative ordering of 
Sterne's works is characteristic of German criticism. In the 
latter part of the review its author seizes on a mannerism, the 
exaggerated use of which emphatically sunders the book from 
the genuine Sterne, the monotonous repetition of the critic's 
protests and Yorick's verbal conflicts with them. Sterne 
himself used this device frequently, but guardedly, and in ever- 
changing variety. Its careless use betrays the mediocre imita- 
tor. 3 

The more famous Koran was also brought to German ter- 
ritory and enjoyed there a recognition entirely beyond that ac- 
corded it in England. This book was first given to the world 
in London as the "Posthumous Works of a late celebrated 

1 XIV, 2, p. 621. 

2 But in a later review in the same periodical (V, p. 726) this book, though not 
mentioned by name, yet clearly meant, is mentioned with very decided expression 
of doubt. The review quoted above is III, p. 737. 1769. 

3 This work was republished in Braunschweig at the Schulbuchhandlung in 1789. 



75 

Genius deceased f 1 a work in three parts, bearing the further 
title, "The Koran, or the Life, Character and Sentiments of 
Tria Juncta in Uno, M. N. A., Master of No Arts." Richard 
Griffith was probably the real author, but it was included in the 
first collected edition of Sterne's works, published in Dublin, 
1779. 2 The work purports to be, in part, an autobiography of 
Sterne, in which the late writer lays bare the secrets of his life, 
his early debauchery, his father's unworthiness, his profligate 
uncle, the ecclesiastic, and the beginning of his literary career 
by advertising for hack work in London, being in all a confused 
mass of impossible detail, loose notes and disconnected opinion, 
which contemporary English reviews stigmatize as manifestly 
spurious, 'an infamous attempt to palm the united effusions of 
dullness and indecency upon the world as the genuine produc- 
tion of the late Mr. Sterne." 3 

In France the book was accepted as genuine and it was trans- 
lated (1853) by Alfred Hedouin as an authentic work of 
Sterne. In Germany, too, it seems to have been recognized 
with little questioning as to its genuineness ; even in recent 
years Robert Springer, in an article treating of Goethe's rela- 
tion to the Koran, quite openly contends for its authenticity. 4 

1 According to the Universal Magazine (XLVI, p. in) the book was issued in 
February, 1770. It was published in two volumes. 

2 Sidney Lee in Nat'l Diet, of Biography. It was also given in the eighth 
volume of the Edinburgh edition of Sterne, 1803. 

3 See London Magazine, June, 1770, VI, p. 319; also Monthly Review, XLII, pp. 
360-363, May, 1770. The author of this latter critique further proves the fraudu- 
lence by asserting that allusion is made in the book to "facts and circumstances 
which did not happen until Yorick was dead." 

4 It is obviously not the place here for a full discussion of this question. 
Hedouin in the appendix of his "Life of Goethe" (pp. 291 ff) urges the claims of 
the book and resents Fitzgerald's rather scornful characterization of the French 
critics who received the work as Sterne's (see Life of Sterne, 1864, II, p. 429). 
Hedouin refers to Jules Janin ("Essai sur la vie et les ouvrages de Sterne") and 
Balzac ("Physiologie du mariage," Meditation xvii,) as citing from the work as 
genuine. Barbey d'Aurevilly is, however, noted as contending in la Patrie 
against the authenticity. This is probably the article to be found in his collection 
of Essays, "XIX Siecle, Les oeuvres et les hommes," Paris, 1890, pp. 73-93. Fitz- 
gerald mentions Chasles among French critics who accept the book. Springer is 
incorrect in his assertion that the Koran appeared seven years after Sterne's death, 
but he is probably building on the incorect statement in the Quarterly Review 
(XCIV, pp. 303 ff). Springer also asserts erroneously that it was never published 
in Sterne's collected works. He is evidently disposed to make a case for the Koran 
and finds really his chief proof in the fact that both Goethe and Jean Paul accepted 
it unquestioningly. Bodmer quotes Sterne from the Koran in a letter to Denis, 



76 

Since a German translation appeared in the following year 
(1771), the German reviews do not, in the main, concern them- 
selves with the English original. The Ncues Bremisches Mag- 
azine however, censures the book quite severely, but the Nene 
Bibliothek der schonen Wissenschaften 2 welcomes it with un- 
questioning praise. The German rendering was by Johann 
Gottfried Gellius, and the title was "Yorick's Nachgelassene 
Werke." 3 The Deutsche Bibliothek der schonen Wisscnsckaf- 
ten* does acknowledge the doubtful authorship but accepts 
completely its Yorick tone and whim — "one cannot tell the 
copyist from the original." Various characteristics are cited 
as common to this work and Yorick's other writings, the con- 
trast, change, confusion, conflict with the critics and the talk 
about himself. For the collection of aphorisms, sayings, frag- 
ments and maxims which form the second part of the Koran, 
including the "Memorabilia," the reviewer suggests the name 
"Sterniana." The reviewer acknowledges the occasional fail- 
ure in attempted thrusts of wit, the ineffective satire, the im- 
moral innuendo in some passages, but after the first word of 
doubt the review passes on into a tone of seemingly complete 
acceptation. 

In 1778 another translation of this book appeared, which 
has been ascribed to Bode, though not given by Goedeke, Jor- 
dens or Meusel. Its title was "Der Koran, oder Leben und 
Meynungen des Tria Juncta in Uno." 5 The Almanack der 
dentschen Musen* treats this work with full measure of praise. 
The Allgemeine deittsche Bibliothek 7 accepts the book in this 
translation as a genuine product of Sterne's genius. Sammer 
reprinted the "Koran" (Vienna, 1795, 12 ) and included it in 

April 4, 1 77 1, "M. Denis Lit. Nachlass," ed. by Retzer, Wien, 1801, II, p. 120, 
and other German authors have in a similar way made quotations from this work, 
without questioning its authenticity. 

1 HI, p. 537, 1771. 

2 X, p. 173. 

3 Leipzig, Schwickert, 1771, pp. 326, 8°. 

* V, p. 726. 

5 Hamburg, llerold, 1778, pp. 248, 12 . 

• 1779. P- 67. 

T Anhang to XXV-XXXVI, Vol. II, p. 768. 



77 

his nine volume edition of Sterne's complete works (Vienna, 

1798). 

Goethe's connection with the "Koran," which forms the most 
interesting phase of its German career, will be treated later. 

Sterne's unacknowledged borrowings, his high-handed and 
extensive appropriation of work not his own, were noted in 
Germany, the natural result of Ferriar's investigations in Eng- 
land, but they seem never to have attracted any considerable 
attention or aroused any serious concern among Sterne's ad- 
mirers so as to imperil his position : the question in England at- 
tached itself as an ungrateful but unavoidable concomitant of 
every discussion of Sterne and every attempt to determine his 
place in letters. Bottiger tells us that Lessing possessed a copy 
of Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy," from which Sterne 
filched so much wisdom, and that Lessing had marked in it sev- 
eral of the passages which Ferriar later advanced as proof of 
Sterne's theft. It seems that Bode purchased this volume at 
Lessing's auction in Hamburg. Lessing evidently thought it 
not worth while to mention these discoveries, as he is entirely 
silent on the subject. Bottiger is, in his account, most unwar- 
rantedly severe on Ferriar, whom he calls "the bilious English- 
man" who attacked Sterne "with so much bitterness." This is 
very far from a veracious conception of Ferriar's attitude. 

The comparative indifference in Germany to this phase of 
Sterne's literary career may well be attributed to the medium 
by which Ferriar's findings were communicated to cultured 
Germany. The book itself, or the original Manchester society 
papers, seem never to have been reprinted or translated, and 
Germany learned their contents through a resume written by 
Friedrich Nicolai and published in the Berlinische Monats- 
schrift for February, 1795, which gives a very sane view of the 
subject, one in the main distinctly favorable to Sterne. Nicolai 
says Sterne is called with justice "One of the most refined, 
ingenious and humorous authors of our time." He asserts 
with capable judgment that Sterne's use of the borrowed pas- 
sages, the additions and alterations, the individual tone which 
he manages to infuse into them, all preclude Sterne from being 



78 

set down as a brainless copyist. Nicolai's attitude may be 
best illustrated by the following passages : 

"Germany has authors enough who resemble Sterne in lack 
of learning. Would that they had a hundredth part of the 
merits by which he made up for this lack, or rather which re- 
sulted from it." "We would gladly allow our writers to take 
their material from old books, and even many expressions and 
turns of style, and indeed whole passages, even if like Sterne 
.... they claimed it all as their own : only they must be suc- 
cessful adapters ; they must add from their own store of ob- 
servation and thought and feeling. The creator of Tristram 
Shandy does this in rich measure." 

Nicolai also contends that Sterne was gifted with two char- 
acteristic qualities which were not imitation, — his "Empfind- 
samkeit" and "Laune" — and that by the former his works 
breathe a tender, delicate beneficence, a character of noble hu- 
manity, while by the latter a spirit of fairest mirth is spread 
over his pages, so that one may never open them without a 
pleasant smile. "The investigation of sources," he says, 
"serves as explanation and does not mean depreciation of an 
otherwise estimable author." 

By this article Nicolai choked the malicious criticism of the 
late favorite which might have followed from some sources, 
had another communicated the facts of Sterne's thievery. 
Lichtenberg in the "Gottingischer Taschenkalender," 1796, 
that is, after the publication of Nicolai's article, but with refer- 
ence to Ferriar's essay in the Manchester Memoirs, Vol. IV, 
under the title of "Gelehrte Diebstahle" does impugn Sterne 
rather spitefully without any acknowledgment of his extraor- 
dinary and extenuating use of his borrowings. "Yorick," he 
says, "once plucked a nettle which had grown upon Lorenzo's 
grave ; that was no labor for him. Who will uproot this plant 
which Ferriar has set on his?" Ferriar's book was reviewed 
by the Nene Bibliothek der schonen Wissenschaften, LXII, 
p. 310. 

Some of the English imitations of Sterne, which did not 
actually claim him as author, also found their way to Germany, 
and there by a less discriminating public were joined in a gen- 



79 

eral way to the mass of Yorick production, and the might of 
Yorick influence. These works represent almost exclusively 
the Sterne of the Sentimental Journey ; for the shoal of petty 
imitations, explanations and protests which appeared in Eng- 
land when Shandy was first issued 1 had gone their own petty 
way to oblivion before Germany awakened to Sterne's influ- 
ence. 

One of the best known of the English Sentimental Journeys 
was the work of Samuel Paterson, entitled, "Another Trav- 
eller: or Cursory Remarks and Critical Observations made 
upon a Journey through Part of the Netherlands, — by Coriat 
Junior," London, 1768, two volumes. The author protested in 
a pamphlet published a little later that his work was not an imi- 
tation of Sterne, that it was in the press before Yorick's book 
appeared ; but a reviewer 2 calls his attention to the sentimental 
journeying already published in Shandy. This work was 
translated into German as ''Empfindsame Reisen durch einen 
Theil der Niederlande," Biitzow, 1774- 1775, 2 Parts, 8°. The 
translator was Karl Friedrich Miichler, who showed his bent in 
the direction of wit and whim by the publication of several col- 
lections of humorous anecdotes, witty ideas and satirical skits. 3 

Much later a similar product was published, entitled "Lau- 

1 As products of the year 1760, one may note: 

Tristram bhandy at Ranelagh, 8°, Dunstan. 

Tristram Shandy in a Reverie, 8°, Williams. 

Explanatory Remarks upon the Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, by 

Jeremiah Kunastrokins, 12 , Cabe. 
A Genuine Letter from a Methodist Preacher in the Country to Laurence 

Sterne, 8°, Vandenberg. 
A Shandean essay on Human Passions, etc., by Caleb MacWhim, 4 , Cooke. 
Yorick's Meditations upon Interesting and Important Subjects. 
The Life and Opinions of Miss Sukey Shandy, Stevens. 
The Clockmaker's Outcry Against Tristram Shandy, Burd. 
The Rake of Taste, or the Elegant Debauchee (another ape of the Shandean 

style, according to London Magazine). 
A Supplement to the Life and Opinion of Tristram Shandy, by the author 
of Yorick's Meditations, 12 . 

2 Monthly Review, XL, p. 166. 

3 "Der Reisegefahrte," Berlin, 1785-86. "Komus oder der Freund des Scherzes 
und der Laune," Berlin, 1806. "Museum des Witzes der Laune und der Satyre," 
Berlin, 810. For reviews of Coriat in German periodicals see Gothaische Gelehrte 
Zeitungen, 1774, p. 378; Leipsiger Musen-Almanach, 1776, p. 85; Almanack der 
Deutschen Musen, 1775, p. 84; Unterhaltungen, VII, p. 167. 



80 

nige Reise durch Holland in Yoricks 1 Manier, mit Charakter- 
skizzen und Anekdoten uber die Sitten und Gebrauche der Hol- 
lander aus dem Englischen," two volumes, Zittau und Leipzig, 
1795. The translation was by Reichel in Zittau. 1 This may 
possibly be Ireland's "A Picturesque Tour through Holland, 
Brabant and part of France, made in 1789," two volumes, Lon- 
don, 1790. 2 The well-known "Peter Pennyless" was repro- 
duced as "Empfindsame Gedanken bey verschiedenen Vorfallen 
von Peter Pennyless," Leipzig, Weidmann, 1770. 

In 1788 there appeared in England a continuation of the Sen- 
timental Journey 3 in which, to judge from the reviewers, the 
petty author outdid Sterne in eccentricities of typography, 
breaks, dashes, scantily filled and blank pages. This is evi- 
dently the original of "Die neue empfindsame Reise in Yoriks 
Geschmack," Leipzig, 1789, 8°, pp. 168, which, according to 
the Allgemeine Littcratur-Zeitung bristles with such extrava- 
gances. 4 

A much more successful attempt was the "Sentimental Jour- 
ney, Intended as a Sequel to Mr. Sterne's, Through Italy, 
Switzerland and France, by Mr. Shandy," two volumes, 12 °, 
1793. This was evidently the original of Schink's work f "Emp- 
findsame Reisen durch Italien, die Schweiz und Frankreich, ein 
Nachtrag zu den Yorikschen. Aus und nach dem Englischen," 
Hamburg, Hoffmann, 1794, pp. 272, 8°. The translator's 
preface, which is dated Hamburg, March 1794, explains his at- 
titude toward the work as suggested in the expression "Aus 
-und nach dem Englischen," that is, "aus, so lange wie Treue 
fur den Leser Gewinn schien und nach, wenn Abweichung fur 
die deutsche Darstellung notwendig war." He claims to have 
softened the glaring colors of the original and to have dis- 
carded, or altered the obscene pictures. The author, as de- 

1 See Allg. Litt. Zeitung, 1796, I, p. 256. 

2 The identity could be proven or disproven by comparison. There is a copy of 
the German work in the Leipzig University Library. Ireland's book is in the 
British Museum. 

8 See the English Review, XIII, p. 69, 1789, and the Monthly Review, LXXIX, 
p. 468, 1788. 

4 Allg. Litt. Zeitung, 1791, I, p. 197. A sample of the author's absurdity is 
given there in quotation. 

6 Joh. Friedrich Schink, better known as a dramatist. 



81 

scribed in the preface, is an illegitimate son of Yorick, named 
Shandy, who writes the narrative as his father would have 
written it, if he had lived. This assumed authorship proves 
quite satisfactorily its connection with the English original, as 
there, too, in the preface, the narrator is designated as a base- 
born son of Yorick. The book is, as a whole, a fairly success- 
ful imitation of Yorick's manner, and it must be judged as de- 
cidedly superior to Stevenson's attempt. The author takes up 
the story where Sterne left it, in the tavern room with the 
Piedmontese lady; and the narrative which follows is replete 
with allusions to familiar episodes and sentiments in the real 
Journey, with sentimental adventures and opportunities for 
kindly deeds, and sympathetic tears ; motifs used originally 
are introduced here, a begging priest with a snuff-box, a con- 
fusion with the Yorick in Hamlet, a poor girl with wandering 
mind seated by the wayside, and others equally familiar. 

It is not possible to determine the extent of Schink's altera- 
tions to suit German taste, but one could easily believe that the 
somewhat lengthy descriptions of external nature, quite for- 
eign to Sterne, were original with him, and that the episode of 
the young German lady by the lake of Geneva, with her fevered 
admiration for Yorick, and the compliments to the German 
nation and the praise for great Germans, Luther, Leibnitz and 
Frederick the Great, are to be ascribed to the same source. He 
did not rid the book of revolting features, as one might sup- 
pose from his preface. 1 Previous to the publication of the 
whole translation, Schink published in the February number of 
the Deutsche Monatsschrift 2 two sections of his book, "Die 
"Schone Obstverkauferin" and "Elisa." Later, in the May 
number, he published three other fragments, "Turin, Hotel del 
Ponto," "Die Verlegenheit," "Die Unterredung." 3 

A few years later Schink published another and very similar 
volume with the title, "Launen, Phantasieen und Schilderun- 

1 See the story of the gentlewoman from Thionville, p. 250, and elsewhere. 

2 The references to the Deutsche Monatsschrift are respectively, I, pp. 181-188, 
and II, pp. 65-71. 

8 For review of Schink's book see Allg. Litt. Zeitung, 1794, IV, p. 62, October 
7. Bottiger seems to think that Schink's work is but another working over of 
Stevenson's continuation. 

6 



82 

gen aus dem Tagebuche eines reisenden Englanders," 1 Arn- 
stadt und Rudolstadt, 1801, pp. 323. It has not been possible 
to find an English original, but the translator makes claim upon 
one, though confessing alterations to suit his German readers, 
and there is sufficient internal evidence to point to a real Eng- 
lish source. The traveler is a haggard, pale-faced English 
clergyman, who, with his French servant, La Pierre, has wan- 
dered in France and Italy and is now bound for Margate. 
Here again we have sentimental episodes, one with a fair lady 
in a post-chaise, another with a monk in a Trappist cloister, 
apostrophes to the imagination, the sea, and nature, a new di- 
vision of travelers, a debate of personal attributes, constant ap- 
peals to his dear Sophie, who is, like Eliza, ever in the back- 
ground, occasional references to objects made familiar through 
Yorick, as Dessein's Hotel, and a Yorick-like sympathy with 
the dumb beast ; in short, an open imitation of Sterne, but the 
motifs from Sterne are here more mixed and less obvious. 
There is, as in the former book, much more enthusiasm for 
nature than is characteristic of Sterne ; and there is here much 
more miscellaneous material, such, for example, as the tale of 
the two sisters, which betrays no trace of Sterne's influence. 
The latter part of the volume is much less reminiscent of 
Yorick and suggests interpolation by the translator. - 

Near the close of the century was published "Fragments in 
the manner of Sterne," 8°, Debrett, 1797, which, according to 
the Monthly Review:'' caught in large measure the sentimen- 
tality, pathos and whimsicality of Sterne's style. The British 
Museum catalogue suggests J. Brandon as its author. This 
was reprinted by Nauck in Leipzig in 1800, and a translation 
was given to the world by the same publisher in the same year, 
with the added title: "Ein Seitenstiick zu Yoricks empfind- 
samen Reisen." The translation is attributed by Kayser to 

1 It is not given by Goedcke or Meusel, but is given among Schink's works in 
"Neuer Nekrolog der Deutschen," Weimar, 1835-1837, XIII, pp. 161-165. 

2 In both these books the English author may perhaps be responsible for some of 
the deviation from Sterne's style. 

3 CV, p. 271. 



83 

Aug. Wilhelmi, the pseudonym of August Wilhelm Meyer. 1 
Here too belongs "Mariens Briefe nebst Nachricht von ihrem 
Tode, aus dem Englischen," 2 which was published also under 
the title : "Yoricks Empfindsame Reisen durch Frankreich 
und Italien," 5th vol.. 8°, Weissenfels, Severin, Mitzky in 
Leipzig, 1795. 

1 Kayser notes another translation, "Fragmente in Yorick's Manier, aus dem 
Eng., mit Kpf., 8°." London, 1800. It is possibly identical with the one noted 
above. A second edition of the original came out in 1798. 

2 The original of this was published by Kearsley in London, 1790, 12 , a teary 
contribution to the story of Maria of Moulines. 



CHAPTER V 



STERNE'S INFLUENCE IN GERMANY 

Thus in manifold ways Sterne was introduced into German 
life and letters. 1 He stood as a figure of benignant humanity, 
of lavish sympathy with every earthly affliction, he became a 
guide and mentor, 2 an awakener and consoler, and probably 
more than all, a sanction for emotional expression. Not only 
in literature, but in the conduct of life was Yorick judged a 
preceptor. The most important attempt to turn Yorick's 
teachings to practical service in modifying conduct in human 
relationships was the introduction and use of the so-called 
"Lorenzodosen." The considerable popularity of this remark- 
able conceit is tangible evidence of Sterne's influence in Ger- 
many and stands in striking contrast to the wavering enthusi- 
asm, vigorous denunciation and half-hearted acknowledgment 

X A writer in the Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitungen, 1775 (II, 787 ff.), asserts that 
Sterne's works are the favorite reading of the German nation. 

2 A further illustration may be found in the following discourse: "Von eiuigen 
Hindernissen des akademischen Fleisses. Eine Rede bey dem Anfange der offent- 
lichen Vorlesungen gehalten," von J. C. C. Ferber, Professor zu Helmstadt (1773, 
8°), reviewed in Magazin der deutschen Critik, III, St. I., pp. 261 ff. This 
academic guide of youth speaks of Sterne in the following words: "Wie tief 
dringt dieser Philosoph in die verborgensten Gange des menschlichen Herzens, wie 
richtig entdeckt er die geheimsten Federn der Handlungen, wie entlarvt, wie 
verabscheuungsvoll steht vor ihm das Laster, wie liebenswurdig die Tugend! wie 
interessant sind seine Schilderungen, wie eindringend seine Lehren! und woher 
diese grosse Kenntniss des Menschen, woher diese getreue Bezeichnung der Natur, 
diese sanften Empfindungen, die seine geistvolle Sprache hervorbringt? Dieser 
Saame der Tugend, den er mit wohlthatiger Hand ausstreuet?" Yorick held up to 
college or university students as a champion of virtue is certainly an extraordinary 
spectacle. A critic in the Frankfurter Gel. Anz., August 18, 1772, in criticising the 
make-up of a so-called "Landbibliothek," recommends books "die geschickt sind, die 
guten einfaltigen, ungekiinstelten Empfindungen reiner Seelen zu unterhalten, einen 
Yorick vor alien . . . ." The long article on Sterne's character in the Gotting. 
Mag., I, pp. 84-92, 1780, "Etwas iiber Sterne: Schreiben an Prof. Lichtenberg" un- 
doubtedly helped to establish this opinion of Sterne authoritatively. In it Sterne's 
weaknesses are acknowledged, but the tendency is to emphasize the tender, sympa- 
thetic side of his character. The conception of Yorick there presented is quite 
different from the one held by Lichtenberg himself. 

84 



85 

which marked Sterne's career in England. A century of criti- 
cism has disallowed Sterne's claim as a prophet, but unques- 
tionably he received in Germany the honors which a foreign 
land proverbially accords. 

To Johann Georg Jacobi, the author of the "Winterreise" 
and "Sommerreise," two well-known imitations of Sterne, the 
sentimental world was indebted for this practical manner of 
expressing adherence to a sentimental creed. 1 In the Ham- 
burgischer Correspondent he published an open letter to Gleim, 
dated April 4, 1769, about the time of the inception of the 
"Winterreise," in which letter he relates at considerable length 
the origin of the idea. 2 A few days before this the author was 
reading to his brother, Fritz Jacobi, the philosopher, novelist 
and friend of Goethe, and a number of ladies, from Sterne's 
Sentimental Journey the story of the poor Franciscan who 
begged alms of Yorick. "We read," says Jacobi, "how Yorick 
used this snuff-box to invoke its former possessor's gentle, 
patient spirit, and to keep his own composed in the midst of 
life's conflicts. The good Monk had died : Yorick sat by his 
grave, took out the little snuff-box, plucked a few nettles from 
the head of the grave, and wept. We looked at one another in 

1 The story of the "Lorenzodosen" is given quite fully in Longo's monograph, 
"Laurence Sterne und Johann Georg Jacobi" (Wien, 1898, pp. 39-44), and the 
sketch given here is based upon his investigation, with consultation of the sources 
there cited. Nothing new is likely to be added to his account, but because of its 
important illustrative bearing on the whole story of Sterne in Germany, a fairly 
complete account is given here. Longo refers to the following as literature on the 
subject: 

Martin, in Quellen und Forschungen, II, p. 10, p. 27, Anmerk, 24. 

Wittenberg's letter in Quellen und Forschungen, II, pp. 52-53. 

K. M. Werner, in article on Ludw. Philipp Hahn in the same series, XXII, 

pp. 127 ff. 
Appell: "Werther und seine Zeit," Leipzig, 1855, p. 168. (Oldenburg, 1896, 

p. 246-250). 
Schlichtegroll: "Nekrolog von 1792," II, pp. 37 ff. 
Klotz: Bibliothek, V, p. 285. 
Jacobi's We'rke, 1770, I, pp. 127 ff. 
Allg. deutsche Bibl., XIX, 2, p. 174; XII, 2, p. 279. 
Julian Schmidt: "Aus der Zeit der Lorenzodosen," Westermann's Monats- 

hefte, XLIX, pp. 479 ff. 
The last article is popular and only valuable in giving letters of Wieland and 
others which display the emotional currents of the time. It has very little to do 
with the Lorenzodosen. 

2 The letter is reprinted in Jacobi's Works, 1770, I, pp. 31 ff., and in an abridged 
form in the edition of 1807, I, pp. 103 ff . ; and in the edition of Zurich, 1825, I, 
pp. 270-275. 



86 

silence : each rejoiced to find tears in the others' eyes ; we hon- 
ored the death of the venerable old man Lorenzo and the good- 
hearted Englishman. In our opinion, too, the Franciscan de- 
served more to be canonized than all the saints of the calendar. 
Gentleness, contentedness with the world, patience invincible, 
pardon for the errors of mankind, these are the primary virtues 
he teaches his disciples." The moment was too precious not 
to be emphasized by something rememberable, perceptible to 
the senses, and they all purchased for themselves horn snuff- 
boxes, and had the words "Pater Lorenzo" written in golden 
letters on the outside of the cover and "Yorick" within. Oath 
was taken for the sake of Saint Lorenzo to give something to 
every Franciscan who might ask of them, and further : "If 
anyone in our company should allow himself to be carried away 
by anger, his friend holds out to him the snuff-box, and we 
have too much feeling to withstand this reminder even in the 
greatest violence of passion." It is suggested also that the 
ladies, who use no tobacco, should at least have such a snuff- 
box on their night-stands, because to them belong in such a 
high degree those gentle feelings which were to be associated 
with the article. 

This letter printed in the Hamburg paper was to explain the 
snuff-box, which Jacobi had sent to Gleim a few days before, 
and the desire is also expressed to spread the order. Hence 
others were sent to other friends. Jacobi goes on to say: 
"Perhaps in the future, I may have the pleasure of meeting a 
stranger here and there who will hand me the horn snuff-box 
with its golden letters. I shall embrace him as intimately as 
one Free Mason does another after the sign has been given. 
Oh! what a joy it would be to me, if I could introduce so 
precious a custom among my fellow-townsmen." A reviewer 
in the Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek 1 sharply condemns 
Jacobi for his conceit in printing publicly a letter meant for his 
friend or friends, and, to judge from the words with which 
Jacobi accompanies the abridged form of the letter in the later 
editions it would seem that Jacobi himself was later ashamed 
of the whole affair. The idea, however, was warmly received, 

1 XI, 2, pp. 174-75- 



87 

and among the teary, sentimental enthusiasts the horn snuff- 
box soon became the fad. A few days after the publication 
of this letter, Wittenberg, 1 the journalist in Hamburg, writes 
to Jacobi (April 21) that many in Hamburg desire to possess 
these snuff-boxes, and he adds: "A hundred or so are now 
being manufactured ; besides the name Lorenzo, the following 
legend is to appear on the cover: Animae quales non candi- 
diores terra tulit. Wittenberg explains that this Latin motto 
was a suggestion of his own, selfishly made, for thereby he 
might win the opportunity of explaining it to the fair ladies, 
and exacting kisses for the service. Wittenberg asserts that 
a lady (Longo guesses a certain Johanna Friederike Behrens) 
was the first to suggest the manufacture of the article at Ham- 
burg. A second letter 2 from Wittenberg to Jacobi four months 
later (August 21, 1769) announces the sending of nine snuff- 
boxes to Jacobi, and the price is given as one-half a reichs- 
thaler. Jacobi himself says in his note to the later edition that 
merchants made a speculation out of the fad, and that a multi- 
tude of such boxes were sent out through all Germany, even 
to Denmark and Livonia : "they were in every hand," he says. 
Graf Solms had such boxes made of tin with the name Jacobi 
inside. Both Martin and Werner instance the request 3 of a 
Protestant vicar, Johann David Goll in Trossingen, for a "Lo- 
renzodose" with the promise to subscribe to the oath of the 
order, and, though Protestant, to name the Catholic Franciscan 
his brother. According to a spicy review 4 in the Allgemeine 
deutsche Bibliothek 5 these snuff-boxes were sold in Hamburg 
wrapped in a printed copy of Jacobi's letter to Gleim, and the 
reviewer adds, like Grenough's tooth-tincture in the direc- 

1 Quellen und Forschungen, XXII, p. 127. 

2 Ibid., II, pp. 52-53- 

3 This was in a letter to Jacobi October 25, 1770, though Appell gives the date 
1 775 — -evidently a misprint. 

4 Review of "Trois lettres frangoises par quelques allemands," Amsterdam (Ber- 
lin), 1769, 8°, letters concerned with Jacobi's "Winterreise" and the snuff-boxes 
themselves. 

XII, 2, p. 279. 



88 

tions for its use." 1 Nicolai in "Sebaldus Nothanker" refers to 
the Lorenzo cult with evident ridicule. 2 

There were other efforts to make Yorick's example an effi- 
cient power of beneficent brotherliness. Kaufmann attempted 
to found a Lorenzo order of the horn snuff-box. Diintzer, in 
his study of Kaufmann, 3 states that this was only an effort on 
Kaufmann's part to embrace a timely opportunity to make 
himself prominent. This endeavor was made according to 
Diintzer, during Kaufmann's residence in Strassburg, which 
the investigator assigns to the years 1774-75. Leuchsenring, 4 
the eccentric sentimentalist, who for a time belonged to the 
Darmstadt circle and whom Goethe satirized in "Pater Brey," 
cherished also for a time the idea of founding an order of 
"Empfindsamkeit. 

In the literary remains of Johann Christ Hofmann 5 in Co- 
burg was found the "patent" of an order of "Sanftmuth und 
Versohnung." A "Lorenzodose" was found with it marked 
XXVIII, and the seven rules of the order, dated Coburg "im 
Ordens-Comtoir, den 10 August, 1769," are merely a topical 
enlargement and ordering of Jacobi's original idea. Longo 

1 Longo was unable to find one of these once so popular snuff-boxes, — a rather 
remarkable fact. There is, however, a picture of one at the end of the chapter 

"Yorick," p. 15 in Gochhausen's M . . . . R — a small oval box. Emil Kuh, 

in his life of Fredrich Hebbel (1877, I, pp. 117-118) speaks of the Lorenzodose as 
"dreieckig." A chronicler in Schlichtegroll's "Nekrolog," 1792, II, p. 51, also 
gives rumor of an order of "Sanftmuth und Toleranz, der eine dreyeckigte Loren- 
zodose zum Symbol fiihrte." The author here is unable to determine whether this 
is a part of Jacobi's impulse or the initiative of another. 

2 Fourth Edition. Berlin and Stettin, 1779, III, p. 99. 

8 "Christopher Kaufmann, der Kraftapostel der Geniezeit" von Heinrich Diint- 
zer, Historisches Taschcnbuch, edited by Fr. v. Raumer, third series, tenth year, 
Leipzig, 1859, pp. 109-231. Duntzer's sources concerning Kaufmann's life in 
Strassburg are Schmohl's "Urne Johann Jacob Mochels," 1780, and "Johann Jacob 
Mochel's Reliquien verschiedener philosophischen padogogischen poetischen und 
andern Aufsatze," 1780. These books have unfortunately not been available for 
the present use. 

4 For account of Leuchsenring see Varnhagen van Ense, "Vermischte Schriften", 
I. 492-532. 

5 Schlichtegroll's "Nekrolog," 1792, II, pp. 37 ff. There is also given here a 
quotation written after Sterne's death, which is of interest: 

"Wir Crben, Yorick, deine Dose, 
Auch deine Feder erben wir; 
Doch wer erhielt im Erbschaftsloose 
Dein Herz? O Yorick, nenn ihn mir!" 



89 

gives them in full. Appell states that Jacobi explained through 
a friend that he knew nothing of this order and had no share 
in its founding. Longo complains that Appell does not give 
the source of his information, but Jacobi in his note to the so- 
called "Stiftungs-Brief" in the edition of 1807 quotes the article 
in Schlichtegroll's "Nekrolog" as his only knowledge of this 
order, certainly implying his previous ignorance of its ex- 
istence. 

Somewhat akin to these attempts to incorporate Yorick's 
ideas is the fantastic laying out of the park at Marienwerder 
near Hanover, of which Matthison writes in his "Vaterland- 
ische Besuche," 1 and in a letter to the Hofrath von Kopken in 
Magdeburg, 2 dated October 17, 1785. After a sympathetic 
description of the secluded park, he tells how labyrinthine paths 
lead to an eminence "where the unprepared stranger is sur- 
prised by the sight of a cemetery. On the crosses there one 
reads beloved names from Yorick's Journey and Tristram 
Shandy. Father Lorenzo, Eliza, Maria of Moulines, Corporal 
Trim, Uncle Toby and Yorick were gathered by a poetic fancy 
to this graveyard." The letter gives a similar description and 
adds the epitaph on Trim's monument, "Weed his grave clean, 
ye men of goodness, for he was your brother," 3 a quotation, 
which in its fuller form, Matthison uses in a letter 4 to Bonstet- 
ten, Heidelberg, February 7, 1794, in speaking of Bock the 
actor. It is impossible to determine whose eccentric and taste- 
less enthusiasm is represented by this mortuary arrangement. 

Louise von Ziegler, known in the Darmstadt circle as Lila, 
whom Merck admired and, according to Caroline Flaschsland, 
"almost compared with Yorick's Maria," was so sentimental 
that she had her grave made in her garden, evidently for pur- 
poses of contemplation, and she led a lamb about which ate 
and drank with her. Upon the death of this animal, "a faith- 
ful dog" took its place. Thus was Maria of Moulines re- 
membered. 5 

1 Works of Friedrich von Matthison, Zurich, 1825, III, pp. 141 ff., in "Erinne- 
rungen," zweites Buch. The "Vaterlandische Besuche" were dated 1794. 

2 Briefe von Friedrich Matthison, Zurich, 1795, I, pp. 27-32. 

3 Shandy, III, 22. 

4 Briefe, II, p. 95. 

B "Herders Briefwechsel mit seiner Braut", pp. 92, 181, 187, 253, 377. 



90 

It has already been noted that Yorick's sympathy for the 
brute creation found cordial response in Germany, such regard 
being accepted as a part of his message. That the spread of such 
sentimental notions was not confined to the printed word, but 
passed over into actual regulation of conduct is admirably illus- 
trated by an anecdote related in Wieland's Teutscher Merknr 
in the January number for 1776, by a correspondent who signs 
himself "S." A friend was visiting him; they went to walk, 
and the narrator having his gun with him shot with it two 
young doves. His friend is exercised. "What have the doves 
done to you?" he queries. "Nothing," is the reply, "but they 
will taste good to you." "But they were alive," interposed 
the friend, "and would have caressed (geschnabelt) one an- 
other," and later he refuses to partake of the doves. Connec- 
tion with Yorick is established by the narrator himself : "If my 
friend had not read Yorick's story about the sparrow, he would 
have had no rule of conduct here about shooting doves, 
and my doves would have tasted better to him." The influence 
of Yorick was, however, quite possibly indirect through Jacobi 
as intermediary ; for the latter describes a sentimental family 
who refused to allow their doves to be killed. The author of 
this letter, however, refers directly to Yorick, to the very 
similar episode of the sparrows narrated in the continuation of 
the Sentimental Journey, but an adventure original with the 
German Bode. This is probably the source of Jacobi's 
narrative. 

The other side of Yorick's character, less comprehensible, 
less capable of translation into tangibilities, was not disre- 
garded. His humor and whimsicality, though much less 
potent, were yet influential. Ramler said in a letter to Gebler 
dated November 14, 1775, that everyone wished to jest like 
Sterne, 1 and the Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen (October 31, 
I 775)» at almost precisely the same time, discourses at some 
length on the then prevailing epidemic of whimsicality, show- 
ing that shallowness beheld in the then existing interest in 

1 Quoted by Koberstein, IV, p. 168. Else, p. 31; Hettner, III, 1, p. 362, 
quoted from letters in Friedrich Schlegel's Deutsches Museum, IV, p. 145. These 
letters are not given by Goedeke. 



91 

humor a justification for all sorts of eccentric behavior and in- 
consistent wilfulness. 

Naturally Sterne's influence in the world of letters may be 
traced most obviously in the slavish imitation of his style, his 
sentiment, his whims, — this phase represented in general by 
now forgotten triflers ; but it also enters into the thought of the 
great minds in the fatherland and becomes interwoven with 
their culture. Their own expressions of indebtedness are here 
often available in assigning a measure of relationship. And 
finally along certain general lines the German Yorick exercised 
an influence over the way men thought and wanted to think. 

The direct imitations of Sterne are very numerous, a crowd 
of followers, a motley procession of would-be Yoricks, set out 
on one expedition or another. Musaus 1 in a review of certain 
sentimental meanderings in the Allgemeine deutsche Biblio- 
thekf remarked that the increase of such journeyings threat- 
ened to bring about a new epoch in the taste of the time. He 
adds that the good Yorick presumably never anticipated be- 
coming the founder of a fashionable sect. This was in 1773. 
Other expressions of alarm or disapprobation might be cited. 

Through Sterne's influence the account of travels became 
more personal, less purely topographical, more volatile and 
merry, more subjective. 3 Goethe in a passage in the "Cam- 
pagne in Frankreich," to which reference is made later, ac- 
knowledges this impulse as derived from Yorick. Its pres- 
ence was felt even when there was no outward effort at senti- 
mental journeying. The suggestion that the record of a jour- 

1 The review is credited to him by Koberstein, III, pp. 463-4. 

2 XIX, 2, p. 579. 

3 See "Bemerkungen oder Briefe iiber Wien, eines jungen Bayern auf einer 
Reise durch Deutschland," Leipzig (probably 1804 or 1805). It is, according to 
the Jenaische Allg. Litt. Zeitung (1805, IV, p. 383), full of extravagant senti- 
ment with frequent apostrophe to the author's "Evelina." Also, "Meine Reise 
vom Stadtchen H . . . . zum Dorfchen H . . . . " Hannover, 1799. See Allg. 
Litt. Zeitung, 1799, IV, p. 87. "Reisen unter Sonne, Mond und Sternen," Erfurt, 
1798, pp. 220, 8°. This is evidently a similar work, but is classed by Allg. Litt. 
Zeitung (1799, I, 477) as an imitation of Jean Paul, hence indirectly to be con- 
nected with Yorick. "Reisen des griinen Mannes durch Deutschland," Halle, 1787- 
91. See Allg. Litt. Zeitung, 1789, I, 217; 1791, IV, p. 576. "Der Teufel auf 
Riesen," two volumes, Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1789. See Allg. Litt. Zeitung, 1789, 
I, p. 826. Knigge's books of travels also share in this enlivening and subjectiv- 
izing of the traveler's narrative. 



92 

ney was personal and tinged with humor was essential to its 
popularity. It was probably purely an effort to make use of 
this appeal which led the author of "Bemerkungen eines 
Reisenden durch Deutschland, Frankreich, England und Hol- 
land," 1 a work of purely practical observation, to place upon his 
title-page the alluring lines from Gay: ''Life is a jest and all 
things shew it. I thought so once, but now I know it ;" a 
promise of humorous attitude which does not find fulfilment in 
the heavy volumes of purely objective description which follow. 

Probably the first German book to bear the name Yorick 
in its title was a short satirical sketch entitled, "Yorick und die 
Bibliothek der elenden Scribenten, an Hrn. — " 1768, 8° 
(Anspach), 2 which is linked to the quite disgustingly scur- 
rilous Antikriticus controversy. 

Attempts at whimsicality, imitations also of the Shandean 
gallery of originals appear, and the more particularly Shan- 
dean style of narration is adopted in the novels of the period 
which deal with middle-class domestic life. Of books directly 
inspired by Sterne, or following more or less slavishly his guid- 
ance, a considerable proportion has undoubtedly been con- 
signed to merited oblivion. In many cases it is possible to de- 
termine from contemporary reviews the nature of the individual 
product, and the probable extent of indebtedness to the British 
model. If it were possible to find and examine them all with 
a view to establishing extent of relationship, the identity of 
motifs, the borrowing of thought and sentiment, such a work 
would give us little more than we learn from consideration of 
representative examples. In the following chapter the attempt 
will be made to treat a number of typical products. Baker in 
his article on Sterne in Germany adopts the rather hazardous 
expedient of judging merely by title and taking from Goedeke's 
"Grundriss," works which suggests a dependence on Sterne. 3 

1 Altenburg, Richter, 1775, six volumes. 

2 Reviewed in Allg. deutsche Bibl., X, 2, p. 127, and Neue Critische Nachrichten, 
Greifswald V, p. 222. 

2 Many of the anonymous books, even those popular in their day, are not given 
by Goedeke; and Baker, judging only by one external, naturally misses Sterne 
products which have no distinctively imitative title, and includes others which have 
no connection with Sterne. For example, he gives Gellius's "Yoricks Nachgelas- 
6ene Werke," which is but a translation of the Koran, and hence in no way an ex- 



93 

The early relation of several great men of letters to Sterne 
has been already treated in connection with the gradual 
awakening of Germany to the new force. Wieland was one of 
Sterne's most ardent admirers, one of his most intelligent in- 
terpreters ; but since his relationship to Sterne has been made 
the theme of special study, 1 there will be needed here but a 
brief recapitulation with some additional comment. Especially 
in the productions of the years 1768- 1774 are the direct al- 
lusions to Sterne and his works numerous, the adaptations of 
motifs frequent, and imitation of literary style unmistakable. 
Behmer finds no demonstrable evidence of Sterne's influence 
in Wieland's work prior to two poems of the year 1768, 
"Endymions Traum" and "Chloe ;" but in the works of the 
years immediately following there is abundant evidence both 
in style and in subject matter, in the fund of allusion and illus- 
tration, to establish the author's indebtedness to Sterne. 
Behmer analyzes from this standpoint the following works: 
"Beitrage zur geheimen Geschichte des menschlichen Ver- 
standes und Herzens ;" "Sokrates Mainomenos oder die Dia- 

ample of German imitation; he gives also Schummel's "Fritzens Reise nach Dessau" 
(1776) and "Reise nach Schlesien" (1792), Nonne's "Amors Reisen nach Fockzana 
zum Friedenscongress" (1773), none of which has anything to do with Sterne. 
"Trim oder der Sieg der Liebe uber die Philosophic" (Leipzig, 1776), by Ludw. 
Ferd. v. Hopffgarten, also cited by Baker, undoubtedly owes its name only to Sterne. 
See Jenaische Zeitungen von gel. Sachen, 1777, p. 67, and Allg. deutsche Bibl., 
XXXIV, 2, p. 484; similarly "Lottchens Reise ins Zuchthaus" by Kirtsten, 1777, is 
given in Baker's list, but the work "Reise" is evidently used here only in a figura- 
tive sense, the story being but the relation of character deterioration, a downward 
journey toward the titular place of punishment. See Jenaische Zeitungen von. gel. 
Sachen, 1777, pp. 739 ff.; 1778, p. 12. Allg deutsche Bibl., XXXV, 1, p. 182. 
Baker gives Bock's "Tagereise" and "Geschichte eines empfundenen Tages" as if 
they were two different books. He further states: "Sterne is the parent of a long 
list of German Sentimental Journeys which began with von Thummel's 'Reise in 
die mittaglichen Provinzen Frankreichs.' " This work really belongs comparatively 
late in the story of imitations. Two of Knigge's books are also included. See 
p. 166-7. 

1 "Laurence Sterne und C. M. Wieland, von Karl August Behmer, Forschungen 
zur neueren Litteraturgeschichte IX. Munchen, 1899. Fin Beitrag zur Er- 
forschung fremder Einfliisse auf Wieland's Dichtung." To this reference has been 
made. There is also another briefer study of this connection : a Programm by F. 
Bauer, "Ueber den Einfluss, Laurence Sternes auf Chr. M. Wieland," Karlsbad, 
1898. A. Mager published, 1890, at Marburg, "Wieland's Nachlass des 
Diogenes von Sinope und das englische Vorbild," a school "Abhandlung," which 
dealt with a connection between this work of Wieland and Sterne. Wood ("Einfluss 
Fieldings auf die deutsche Litteratur," Yokohama, 1895) finds constant imitation of 
Sterne in "Don Silvio," which, from Behmer's proof concerning the dates of Wie- 
land's acquaintance with bterne, can hardly be possible. 



94 

logen des Diogenes von Sinope;" "Der neue Amadis ;" "Der 
goldene Spiegel ;" "Geschichte des Philosophen Dani- 
schmende;" "Gedanken iiber eine alte Aufschrift ;" "Geschichte 
der Abderiten." 1 

In these works, but in different measure in each, Behmer 
finds Sterne copied stylistically, in the constant conversations 
about the worth of the book, the comparative value of the dif- 
ferent chapters and the difficulty of managing the material, in 
the fashion of inconsequence in unexplained beginnings and 
abrupt endings, in the heaping up of words of similar meaning, 
or similar ending, and in the frequent digressions. Sterne also 
is held responsible for the manner of introducing the immorally 
suggestive, for the introduction of learned quotations and refer- 
ences to authorities, for the sport made of the learned profes- 
sions and the satire upon all kinds of pedantry and over- 
wrought enthusiasm. Though the direct, demonstrable influ- 
ence of Sterne upon Wieland's literary activity dies out 
gradually 2 and naturally, with the growth of his own genius, 
his admiration for the English favorite abides with him, pass- 
ing on into succeeding periods of his development, as his 
former enthusiasm for Richardson failed to do. 3 More than 
twenty years later, when more sober days had stilled the first 
unbridled outburst of sentimentalism, Wieland speaks yet of 
Sterne in terms of unaltered devotion: in an article published 
in the Merkur* Sterne is called among all authors the one 
"from whom I would last part," 5 and the subject of the article 
itself is an indication of his concern for the fate of Yorick 
among his fellow-countrymen. It is in the form of an epistle 
to Herr . . . . zu D., and is a vigorous protest against heed- 
less imitation of Sterne, representing chiefly the perils of such 
endeavor and the bathos of the failure. Wieland includes in 

1 Some other works are mentioned as containing references and allusions. 

2 In "Oberon" alone of Wieland's later works does Behmer discover Sterne's 
influence and there no longer in the style, but in the adaptation of motif. 

3 See Erich Schmidt's "Richardson. Rousseau und Goethe," Jena, 1875, pp. 46-7. 
* 1790, I, pp. 209-16. 

This may be well compared with Wieland's statements concerning Shandy in 
his review of the Bode translation (Merkur, VIII, pp. 247-51, 1774), which forms 
one of the most exaggerated expressions of adoration in the whole epoch of Sterne's 
popularity. 



95 

the letter some "specimen passages from a novel in the style of 
Tristram Shandy," which he asserts were sent him by the 
author. The quotations are almost flat burlesque in their 
impossible idiocy, and one can easily appreciate Wieland's 
despairing cry with which the article ends. 

A few words of comment upon Behmer's work will be in 
place. He accepts as genuine the two added volumes of the 
Sentimental Journey and the Koran, though he admits that the 
former were published by a friend, not ''without additions of 
his own," and he uses these volumes directly at least in one in- 
stance in establishing his parallels, the rescue of the naked 
woman from the fire in the third volume of the Journey, and 
the similar rescue from the waters in the "Nachlass des 
Diogenes." 1 That Sterne had any connection with these 
volumes is improbable, and the Koran is surely a pure fabrica- 
tion. Behmer seeks in a few words to deny the reproach cast 
upon Sterne that he had no understanding of the beauties of 
nature, but Behmer is certainly claiming too much when he 
speaks of the "Farbenprachtige Schilderungen der ihm unge- 
wohnten sonnenverklarten Landschaft," which Sterne gives us 
"repeatedly" in the Sentimental Journey, and he finds his most 
secure evidence for Yorick's "genuine and pure" feeling for 
nature in the oft-quoted passage beginning, "I pity the man 
who can travel from Dan to Beersheba and cry ' 'Tis all bar- 
ren.' " It would surely be difficult to find these repeated in- 
stances, for, in the whole work, Sterne gives absolutely no de- 
scription of natural scenery beyond the most casual, incidental 
reference : the familiar passage is also misinterpreted, it be- 
trays no appreciation of inanimate nature in itself, and is but a 
cry in condemnation of those who fail to find exercise for their 
sympathetic emotions. Sterne mentions the "sweet myrtle" 
and "melancholy cypress," 2 not as indicative of his own affec- 
tion for nature, but as exemplifying his own exceeding per- 
sonal need of expenditure of human sympathy, as indeed the 

1 Since Germany did not sharply separate the work of Sterne from his con- 
tinuator, this is, of course, to be classed from the German point of view at that time 
as a borrowing from Sterne. Mager in his study depends upon the Eugenius con- 
tinuation for this and several other parallels. 

2 Sentimental Journey, pp. 31-32. 



96 

very limit to which sensibility can go, when the desert denies 
possibility of human intercourse. Sterne's attitude is much 
better illustrated at the beginning of the "Road to Versailles" : 
"As there was nothing in this road, or rather nothing which I 
look for in traveling, I cannot fill up the blank better than with 
a short history of this self-same bird." In other words, he 
met no possibility for exercising the emotions. Behmer's 
statement with reference to Sterne, "that his authorship pro- 
ceeds anyway from a parody of Richardson," is surely not de- 
monstrable, nor that "this whole fashion of composition is indeed 
but ridicule of Richardson." Richardson's star had paled per- 
ceptibly before Sterne began to write, and the period of his 
immense popularity lies nearly twenty years before. There is 
not the slightest reason to suppose that his works have any 
connection whatsoever with Richardson's novels. One is 
tempted to think that Behmer confuses Sterne with Fielding, 
whose career as a novelist did begin as a parodist of the vain 
little printer. That the "Starling" in the Sentimental Journey, 
which is passed on from hand to hand, and the burden of gov- 
ernment which wanders similarly in "Der Goldene Spiegel" 
constitute a parallelism, as Behmer suggests (p. 48), seems 
rather far-fetched. It could also be hardly demonstrated that 
what Behmer calls "die Sternische Einfuhrungsweise" 1 (p. 
54), as used in the "Geschichte der Abderiten," is peculiar to 
Sterne or even characteristic of him. Behmer (p. 19) seems 
to be ignorant of any reprints or translations of the Koran, 
the letters and the sermons, save those coming from Switz- 
erland. 

Bauer's study of the Sterne- Wieland relation is much briefer 
(thirty-five pages) and much less satisfactory because less 
thorough, yet it contains some few valuable individual points 
and cited parallelisms. Bauer errs in stating that Shandy ap- 
peared 1759-67 in York, implying that the whole work was 
issued there. He gives the dates of Sterne's first visit to Paris, 
also incorrectly, as 1760-62. 

Finally, Wieland cannot be classed among the slavish im- 

1 "Ich denke nicht, class es Sie gereuen wird, den Mann naher kennen zu 
lernen" spoken of Demokritus in "Die Abderiten;" see Mcrkur, 1774, I, p. 56. 



97 

itators of Yorick ; he is too independent a thinker, too insistent 
a pedagogue to allow himself to be led more than outwardly by 
the foreign model. He has something of his own to say and 
is genuinely serious in a large portion of his own philosophic 
speculations : hence, his connection with Sterne, being largely 
stylistic and illustrative, may be designated as a drapery of for- 
eign humor about his own seriousness of theorizing. Wie- 
land's Hellenic tendencies make the use of British humor all 
the more incongruous. 1 

Herder's early acquaintance with Sterne has been already 
treated. Subsequent writings offer also occasional indication 
of an abiding admiration. Soon after his arrival in Paris he 
wrote to Hartknoch praising Sterne's characterization of the 
French people. 2 The fifth "Waldchen," which is concerned 
with the laughable, contains reference to Sterne. 3 

With Lessing the case is similar : a striking statement of per- 
sonal regard has been recorded, but Lessing's literary work of 
the following years does not betray a significant influence from 
Yorick. To be sure, allusion is made to Sterne a few times in 
letters 4 and elsewhere, but no direct manifestation of devotion 
is discoverable. The compelling consciousness of his own mes- 
sage, his vigorous interest in deeper problems of religion and 
philosophy, the then increasing worth of native German liter- 
ature, may well have overshadowed the influence of the volatile 
Briton. 

Goethe's expressions of admiration for Sterne and indebted- 
ness to him are familiar. Near the end of his life (December 
16, 1828), when the poet was interested in observing the history 
and sources of his own culture, and was intent upon recording 

1 Wieland's own genuine appreciation of Sterne and understanding of his char- 
acteristics is indicated incidentally in a review of a Swedish book in the Teutscher 
Merkur, 1782, II, p. 192, in which he designates the description of sentimental jour- 
neying in the seventh book of Shandy as the best of Sterne's accomplishment, as 
greater than the Journey itself, a judgment emanating from a keen and true 
knowledge of Sterne. 

2 Lebensbild, V, Erlangen, 1846, p. 89. Letter to Hartknoch, Paris, November, 
1769. In connection with his journey and his "Reisejournal," he speaks of his 
"Tristramschen Meynungen." See Lebensbild, Vol. V, p. 61. 

3 Suphan, IV, p. 190. For further reference to Sterne in Herder's letters, see 
"Briefe Herders an Hamann," edited by Otto Hoffmann, Berlin, 1889, pp. 28, 51, 57, 
71, 78, 194. 

* Lachmann edition, Berlin, 1840, XII, pp. 212, 240. 
7 



9$ 

his own experience for the edification and clarification of the 
people, he says in conversation with Eckermann: "I am in- 
finitely indebted to Shakespeare, Sterne and Goldsmith." 1 And 
a year later in a letter to Zelter, 2 (Weimar, December 25, 
1829), "The influence Goldsmith and Sterne exercised upon 
me, just at the chief point of my development, cannot be esti- 
mated. This high, benevolent irony, this just and compre- 
hensive way of viewing things, this gentleness to all opposition, 
this equanimity under every change, and whatever else all the 
kindred virtues may be termed — such things were a most ad- 
mirable training for me, and surely, these are the sentiments 
which in the end lead us back from all the mistaken paths of 
life." 

In the same conversation with Eckermann from which the 
first quotation is made, Goethe seems to defy the investigator 
who would endeavor to define his indebtedness to Sterne, its 
nature and its measure. The occasion was an attempt on the 
part of certain writers to determine the authorship of certain 
distichs printed in both Schiller's and Goethe's works. Upon 
a remark of Eckermann's that this effort to hunt down a man's 
originality and to trace sources is very common in the literary 
world, Goethe says : "Das ist sehr lacherlich, man konnte 
ebenso gut einen wohlgenahrten Mann nach den Ochsen, 
Schafen und Schweinen fragen, die er gegessen und die ihm 
Krafte gegeben." An investigation such as Goethe seems to 
warn us against here would be one of tremendous difficulty, a 
theme for a separate work. It is purposed here to gather only 
information with reference to Goethe's expressed or implied 
attitude toward Sterne, his opinion of the British master, and 
to note certain connections between Goethe's work and that of 
Sterne, connections which are obvious or have been already a 
matter of comment and discussion. 

1 Eckermann: "Gesprache mit Goethe," Leipzig, 1885, II, p. 29; or Biedermann, 
'Goethe's Gesprache," Leipzig, 1890, VI, p. 3S9- 

2 "Briefvvechsel zwischen Goethe und Zelter, in den Jahren, 1796-1832." Ed. by 
Fr. W. Riemer, Berlin, 1833-4, Vol. V, p. 349. Both oi these quotations are 
cited by Siegmund Levy, "Goethe und Oliver Goldsmith;" Goethe-Jahrbuch, VI, 
1885, pp. 282 fr. The translation in this case is from that of A. D. Coleridge. 



99 

In Strassburg under Herder's 1 guidance, Goethe seems first 
to have read the works of Sterne. His life in Frankfurt dur- 
ing the interval between his two periods of university residence 
was not of a nature calculated to increase his acquaintance with 
current literature, and his studies did not lead to interest in 
literary novelty. This is his own statement in "Dichtung und 
Wahrheit." 2 That Herder's enthusiasm for Sterne was gen- 
erous has already been shown by letters written in the few years 
previous to his sojourn in Strassburg. Letters written to 
Merck 3 (Strassburg, 1 770-1 771) would seem to show that then 
too Sterne still stood high in his esteem. Whatever the exact 
time of Goethe's first acquaintance with Sterne, we know that 
he recommended the British writer to Jung-Stilling for the lat- 
ter's cultivation in letters. 4 Less than a year after Goethe's 
departure from Strassburg, we find him reading aloud to the 
Darmstadt circle the story of poor Le Fevre from Tristram 
Shandy. This is reported in a letter, dated May 8, 1772, by 
Caroline Flachsland, Herder's fiancee. 5 It is not evident 
whether they read Sterne in the original or in the translation of 
Ziickert, the only one then available, unless possibly the reader 
gave a translation as he read. Later in the same letter, Caro- 
line mentions the "Empfindsame Reisen," possibly meaning 
Bode's translation. She also records reading Shakespeare in 
Wieland's rendering, but as she speaks later still of peeping 
into the English books which Herder had sent Merck, it is 
a hazardous thing to reason from her mastery of English at 
that time to the use of original or translation on the occasion 
of Goethe's reading. 

Contemporary criticism saw in the Martin of "Gotz von Ber- 
lichingen" a likeness to Sterne's creations ; 6 and in the other 

1 Griesebach: "Das Goetheische Zeitalter der deutschen Dichtung," Leipzig, 
1891, p. 29. 

2 II, 10th book, Hempel, XXI, pp. 195 ff. 

3 "Briefe an Joh. Heinrich Merck von Gothe, Herder, Wieland und andern be- 
deutenden Zeitgenossen," edited by Dr. Karl Wagner, Darmstadt, 1835, p. 5; and 
"Briefe an und von Joh. Heinrich Merck," issued by the same editor, Darmstadt, 
1838, pp. s, 21. 

4 In the "Wanderschaft," see J. H. Jung-Stilling, Sammtliche Werke. Stuttgart, 

1835. I. P- 2TJ. 

6 "Herder's Briefwechsel mit seiner Braut, April, 1771, to April, 1773," edited 
by Diintzer and F. G. von Herder, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1858, pp. 247 ff. 
6 See Frankfurter Gel. Arts., 1774, February 22. 



100 

great work of the pre-Weimarian period, in "Werther," though 
no direct influence rewards one's search, one must acknowledge 
the presence of a mental and emotional state to which Sterne 
was a contributor. Indeed Goethe himself suggests this rela- 
tionship. Speaking of "Werther" in the "Campagne in Frank- 
reich," 1 he observes in a well-known passage that Werther did 
not cause the disease, only exposed it, and that Yorick shared 
in preparing the ground-work of sentimentalism on which 
"Werther" is built. 

According to the quarto edition of 1837, the first series of 
letters from Switzerland dates from 1775, although they were 
not published till 1808, in the eleventh volume of the edition 
begun in 1806. Scherer, in his "History of German Literature," 
asserts that these letters are written in imitation of Sterne, but 
it is difficult to see the occasion for such a statement. The let- 
ters are, in spite of all haziness concerning the time of their 
origin and Goethe's exact purpose regarding them, 2 a "frag- 
ment of Werther's travels" and are confessedly cast in a senti- 
mental tone, which one might easily attribute to a Werther, in 
whom hyperesthesia has not yet developed to delirium, an 
earlier Werther. Yorick's whim and sentiment are quite want- 
ing, and the sensuousness, especially as pertains to corporeal 
beauty, is distinctly Goethean. 

Goethe's accounts of his own travels are quite free from 
the Sterne flavor ; in fact he distinctly says that through the 
influence of the Sentimental Journey all records of journeys 
had been mostly given up to the feelings and opinions of the 
traveler, but that he, after his Italian journey, had endeavored 
to keep himself objective. 3 

Dr. Robert Riemann in his study of Goethe's novels, 4 calls 
Friedrich in "Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre" a representative of 
Sterne's humor, and he finds in Mittler in the "Wahlverwandt- 
schaften" a union of seriousness and the comic of caricature, 

1 Kiirschner edition of Goethe, Vol. XXII, pp. 146-7. 

2 See introduction by Dunster in the Kiirschner edition, XIII, pp. 137 ff., and 
that by Fr. Strehlke in the Hempel edition, XVI. pp. 217 ff. 

8 Kiirschner edition, Vol. XXIV, p. 15; Tag- und Jahreshefte, 1789. 
4 "Goethe's Romantechnik," Leipzig, 1902. The author here incidentally ex- 
presses the opinion that Ileinse is also an imitator of Sterne. 



101 

reminiscent of Sterne and Hippel. Friedrich is mercurial, 
petulant, utterly irresponsible, a creature of mirth and laughter, 
subject to unreasoning fits of passion. One might, in thinking 
of another character in fiction, designate Friedrich as faun- 
like. In all of this one can, however, find little if any demon- 
strable likeness to Sterne or Sterne's creations. It is rather 
difficult also to see wherein the character of Mittler is reminis- 
cent of Sterne. Mittler is introduced with the obvious purpose 
of representing certain opinions and of aiding the develop- 
ment of the story by his insistence upon them. He represents 
a brusque, practical kind of benevolence, and his eccentricity 
lies only in the extraordinary occupation which he has chosen 
for himself. Riemann also traces to Sterne, Fielding and their 
German followers, Goethe's occasional use of the direct appeal 
to the reader. Doubtless Sterne's example here was a force in 
extending this rhetorical convention. 

It is claimed by Goebel 1 that Goethe's "Homunculus," sug- 
gested to the master partly by reading of Paracelsus and partly 
by Sterne's mediation, is in some characteristics of his being 
dependent directly on Sterne's creation. In a meeting of the 
"Gesellschaft fur deutsche Litteratur," November, 1896, 
Brandl expressed the opinion that Maria of Moulines was a 
prototype of Mignon in ' Wilhelm Meister." 2 

The references to Sterne in Goethe's works, in his letters and 
conversations, are fairly numerous in the aggregate, but not 
especially striking relatively. In the conversations with Eck- 
ermann there are several other allusions besides those already 
mentioned. Goethe calls Eckermann a second Shandy for 
suffering illness without calling a physician, even as Walter 
Shandy failed to attend to the squeaking door-hinge. 3 Ecker- 
mann himself draws on Sterne for illustrations in Yorick's 
description of Paris, 4 and on January 24, 1830, at a time when 
we know that Goethe was re-reading Sterne, Eckermann re- 

1 Julius Goebel, in "Goethe-Jahrbuch," XXI, pp. 208 ff. 

2 See Euphorion, IV, p. 439. 

3 Eckermann, III, p. 155; Biedermann, VI, p. 272. 
* Eckermann, III, p. 170; Biedermann, VI, p. 293. 



102 

fers to Yorick's ( ?) doctrine of the reasonable use of grief. 1 
That Goethe near the end of his life turned again to Sterne's 
masterpiece is proved by a letter to Zelter, October 5, 1830 ; 2 
he adds here too that his admiration has increased with the 
years, speaking particularly of Sterne's gay arraignment of 
pedantry and philistinism. But a few days before this, October 
1, 1830, in a conversation reported by Riemer, 3 he expresses 
the same opinion and adds that Sterne was the first to raise 
himself and us from pedantry and philistinism. By these re- 
marks Goethe commits himself in at least one respect to a fa- 
vorable view of Sterne's influence on German letters. A few 
other minor allusions to Sterne may be of interest. In an 
article in the Horcn (1795, V Stuck,) entitled "Literarischer 
Sansculottismus," Goethe mentions Smelfungus as a type of 
growler. 4 In the " Wander jahre" 5 there is a reference to Yorick's 
classification of travelers. Diintzer, in Schnorr's Archiv, 6 ex- 
plains a passage in a letter of Goethe's to Johanna Fahlmer 
(August, 1775), "die Verworrenheiten des Diego und Juliens" 
as an allusion to the "Intricacies of Diego and Julia" in Slaw- 
kenbergius's tale, 7 and to the traveler's conversation with his 
beast. In a letter to Frau von Stein 8 five years later ( Septem- 
ber 18, 1780) Goethe used this same expression, and the editor 
of the letters avails himself of Diintzer's explanation. Diint- 
zer further explains the word 0eoSo«os, used in Goethe's 
Tagebuch with reference to the Duke, in connection with the 
term deoSi&axTos applied to Walter Shandy. The word is, 

1 Eckermann, II, p. 19; Biedermann, VII, p. 184. This quotation is given in the 
Anhang to the "Wanderjahre." Loeper says (Hempel, XIX, p. 115) that he has 
been unable to find it anywhere in Sterne; see p. 105. 

2 See "Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Zelter." Zelter's replies contain also 
reference to Sterne. VI, p. 33 he speaks of the Sentimental Journey as "ein bal- 
samischer Fruhlingsthau." See also II, p. 51; VI, p. 207. Goethe is reported as 
having spoken of the Sentimental Journey: "Man konne durchaus nicht besser 
ausdriicken, wie des Menschen Herz ein trotzig und verzagt Ding sei." 

3 "Mittheilungen iiber Goethe," von F. W. Riemer, Berlin, 1841, II, p. 658. 
Also, Biedermann, VII, p. 332. 

4 See Hempel, XXIX, p. 240. 

5 Kiirschner, XVI, p. 372. 

6 IX, p. 438. 

7 See "Briefe von Goethe an Johanna Fahlmer," edited by L. Ulrichs, Leipzig, 
1875, p. 91, and Shandy, II, pp. 70 and 48. 

8 "Goethe's Briefe an Frau von Stein," hrsg. von Adolf Scholl; 2te Aufl, bear- 
beitet von W. Fielitz, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1883, Vol. I, p. 276. 



103 

however, somewhat illegible in the manuscript. It was printed 
thus in the edition of the Tagebuch published by Robert Keil, 
but when Duntzer himself, nine years after the article in the 
Archiv, published an edition of the Tagebikher he accepted a 
reading Oeoraros, 1 meaning, as he says, "ein voller Gott," 
thereby tacitly retracting his former theory of connection with 
Sterne. 

The best known relationship between Goethe and Sterne is 
in connection with the so-called plagiarisms in the appendix to 
the third volume of the "Wander jahre." Here, in the second 
edition, were printed under the title "Aus Makariens Archiv" 
various maxims and sentiments. Among these were a number 
of sayings, reflections, axioms, which were later discovered to 
have been taken bodily from the second part of the Koran, the 
best known Sterne-forgery. Alfred Hedouin, in "Le Monde 
Maconnique" (1863), in an article "Goethe plagiaire de 
Sterne," first located the quotations. 2 

Mention has already been made of the account of Robert 
Springer, which is probably the last published essay on the 
subject. It is entitled "1st Goethe ein Plagiarius Lorenz 
Sternes?" and is found in the volume "Essays zur Kritik und 
Philosophic und zur Goethe-Litteratur." 3 Springer cites at 
some length the liberal opinions of Moliere, La Bruyere, 
Wieland, Heine and others concerning the literary appropria- 
tion of another's thought. He then proceeds to quote Goethe's 
equally generous views on the subject, and adds the uncritical 
fling that if Goethe robbed Sterne, it was an honor to Sterne, 
a gain to his literary fame. Near the end of his paper, Springer 
arrives at the question in hand and states positively that these 
maxims, with their miscellaneous companions, were never pub- 
lished by Goethe, but were found by the editors of his literary 
remains among his miscellaneous papers, and then issued in the 

1 References to the Tagebucher are as follows: Robert Keil's Leipzig, 187s, 
p. 107, and Diintzer's, Leipzig, 1889, p. 73. 

2 See also the same author's "Goethe, sa vie et ses oeuvres," Paris, 1866; Ap- 
pendice pp. 291-298. Further literature is found: "Vergleichende Blatter fur liter- 
arische Unterhaltung," 1863, No. 36, and 1869, Nos. 10 and 14. Morgenblatt, 1863, 
Nr. 39, article by Alex. Biichner, Sterne's "Coran und Makariens Archiv, Goethe 
ein Plagiator?" and Deutches Museum, 1867, No. 690. 

3 Minden i. W., 1S85, pp. 330-336. 



104 

ninth volume of the posthumous works. Hedouin had sug- 
gested this possible explanation. Springer adds that the 
editors were unaware of the source of this material and sup- 
posed it to be original with Goethe. 

The facts of the case are, however, as follows : "Wil- 
helm Meister's Wander jahre" was published first in 1821. 1 
In 1829, a new and revised edition was issued in the 
"Ausgabe letzter Hand." Eckermann in his conversations 
with Goethe 2 relates the circumstances under which the 
appendices were added to the earlier work. When the 
book was in press, the publisher discovered that of the three 
volumes planned, the last two were going to be too thin, and 
begged for more material to fill out their scantiness. In this 
perplexity Goethe brought to Eckermann two packets of mis- 
cellaneous notes to be edited and added to those two slender 
volumes. In this way arose the collection of sayings, scraps 
and quotations "Im Shine der Wanderer" and "Aus Makariens 
Archiv." It was later agreed that Eckermann, when Goethe's 
literary remains should be published, should place the matter 
elsewhere, ordered into logical divisions of thought. All of the 
sentences here under special consideration were published in 
the twenty- third volume of the "Ausgabe letzter Hand," which 
is dated 1830, 3 and are to be found there, on pages 271-275 and 
278-281. They are reprinted in the identical order in the ninth 
volume of the "Nachgelassene Werke," which also bore the title, 
Vol. XLIX of "Ausgabe letzter Hand," there found on pages 
121-125 and 127-131. Evidently Springer found them here in 
the posthumous works, and did not look for them in the pre- 
vious volume, which was published two years or thereabouts 
before Goethe's death. 

Of the sentiments, sentences and quotations dealing with 
Sterne, there are twenty which are translations from the 
Koran, in Loeper's edition of "Spriiche in Prosa," 4 Nos. 491- 
507 and 543-544; seventeen others (Nos. 490, 5 o8 -5°9> 5 2I "533> 

1 "Druck vollendct in Mai" according to Baumgartner, III, p. 292. 
-'11, pp. 230-233. May 15, 1831. 
3 Goedeke gives Vol. XXIII, A. 1. H. as 1829. 

4 Hempel, XIX, "Spriiche in Prosa," edited by G. von Loeper, Maximen und Re- 
flexionen; pp. 106-m and 113-117. 



105 

535 ) contain direct appreciative criticism of Sterne ; No. 538 
is a comment upon a Latin quotation in the Koran and No. 545 
is a translation of another quotation in the same work. No. 
532 gives a quotation from Sterne, "Ich habe mein Elend nicht 
wie ein weiser Mann benutzt," which Loeper says he has been 
unable to find in any of Sterne's works. It is, however, in a 
letter 1 to John Hall Stevenson, written probably in August, 
1761. The translation here is inexact. Loeper did not suc- 
ceed in finding Nos. 534, 536, 537, although their position indi- 
cates that they were quotations frqm Sterne, but No. 534 is in 
a letter to Garrick from Paris, March 19, 1762. The German 
translation however conveys a different impression from the 
original English. The other two are not located ; in spite of their 
position, the way in which the book was put together would 
certainly allow for the possibility of extraneous material creep- 
ing in. At their first appearance in the "Ausgabe letzter 
Hand," five Spriiche, Nos. 491, 543, 534, 536, 537, were sup- 
plied with quotation marks, though the source was not indi- 
cated. Thus it is seen that the most of the quotations were 
published as original during Goethe's lifetime, but he prob- 
ably never considered it of sufficient consequence to disavow 
their authorship in public. It is quite possible that the way 
in which they were forced into "Wilhelm Meister" was distaste- 
ful to him afterwards, and he did not care to call attention to 
them. 

Goethe's opinion of Sterne as expressed in the sentiments 
which accompany the quotations from the Koran is signifi- 
cant. "Yorick Sterne," he says, "war der schonste Geist, der 
je gewirkt hat; wer ihn liest, f unlet sich sogleich frei und 
schon ; sein Humor ist unnachahmlich, und nicht jeder Humor 
befreit die Seele" (490). "Sagacitat und Penetration sind 
bei ihm grenzenlos" (528). Goethe asserts here that every 
person of culture should at that very time read Sterne's works, 
so that the nineteenth century might learn "what we owed him 
and perceive what we might owe him." Goethe took Sterne's 
narrative of his journey as a representation of an actual trip, 
or else he is speaking of Sterne's letters in the following: 

1 Letters, I, p. 54. 



106 

"Seine Heiterkeit, Geniigsamkeit, Duldsamkeit auf der Reise, 
wo diese Eigenschaften am meisten gepriift werden, finden 
nicht leicht Ihresgleichen" (No. 529), and Goethe's opinion of 
Sterne's indecency is characteristic of Goethe's attitude. He 
says : "Das Element der Lusternheit, in dem er sich so zierlich 
und sinnig benimmt, wurde vielen Andern zum Verderben 
gereichen." 

The juxtaposition of these quotations and this appreciation 
of Sterne is proof sufficient that Goethe considered Sterne the 
author of the Koran at the time when the notes were made. 
At precisely what time this occurred it is now impossible to 
determine, but the drift of the comment, combined with our 
knowledge from sources already mentioned, that Goethe 
turned again to Sterne in the latter years of his life, would 
indicate that the quotations were made in the latter part of the 
twenties, and that the re-reading of Sterne included the Koran. 
Since the translations which Goethe gives are not identical with 
those in the rendering ascribed to Bode (1778), Loeper sug- 
gests Goethe himself as the translator of the individual quota- 
tions. Loeper is ignorant of the earlier translation of Gellius, 
which Goethe may have used. 1 

There is yet another possibility of connection between 
Goethe and the Koran. This work contained the story of the 
Graf von Gleichen, which is acknowledged to have been a pre- 
cursor of Goethe's "Stella." Duntzer in his "Erlauterungen zu 
den deutschen Klassikern" says it is impossible to determine 
whence Goethe took the story for "Stella." He mentions that 
it was contained in Bayle's Dictionary, which is known to have 
been in Goethe's father's library, and two other books, both 
dating from the sixteenth century, are noted as possible 
sources. It seems rather more probable that Goethe found 
the story in the Koran, which was published but a few years 
before "Stella" was written and translated but a year later, 

1 This seems very odd in view of the fact that in Loeper's edition of "Dichtung 
und Wahrheit" (Hempel, XXII, p. 264) Gellius is referred to as "the translator 
of Lillo and Sterne." It must be that Loeper did not know that Gellius's "Yorick's 
Nachgelassene Wcrke" was a translation of the Koran. 



107 

1771, that is, but four years, or even less, before the appearance 
of "Stella" (1775). 1 

Precisely in the spirit of the opinions quoted above is the 
little essay 2 on Sterne which was published in the sixth volume 
of "Ueber Kunst und Alterthum," in which Goethe designates 
Sterne as a man "who first stimulated and propagated the 
great epoch of purer knowledge of humanity, noble toleration 
and tender love, in the second half of the last century." Goethe 
further calls attenion to Sterne's disclosure of human peculiar- 
ities (Eigenheiten), and the importance and interest of these 
native, governing idiosyncrasies. 

These are, in general, superficial relationships. A thorough 
consideration of these problems, especially as concerns the cul- 
tural indebtedness of Goethe to the English master would be a 
task demanding a separate work. Goethe was an assimilator 
and summed up in himself the spirit of a century, the attitude 
of predecessors and contemporaries. 

C. F. D. Schubart wrote a poem entitled "Yorick," 3 begin- 
ning 

"Als Yorik starb, da flog 
Sein Seelchen auf gen Himmel 
So leicht wie ein Seufzerchen." 

The angels ask him for news of earth, and the greater part of 
the poem is occupied with his account of human fate. The re- 
lation is quite characteristic of Schubart in its gruesomeness, 
its insistence upon all-surrounding death and dissolution ; but 
it contains no suggestion of Sterne's manner, or point of view. 
The only explanation of association between the poem and its 
title is that Schubart shared the one-sided German estimate of 
Sterne's character and hence represented him as a sympathetic 
messenger bringing to heaven on his death some tidings of 
human weakness. 

In certain other manifestations, relatively subordinate, the 
German literature of the latter part of the eighteenth century 

1 The problem involved in the story of Count Gleichen was especially sym- 
pathetic to the feeling of the eighteenth century. See a series of articles by Fr. 
Helbig in Magazin fiir Litteratur des In- und Auslandes, Vol. 60, pp. 102-5; 120-2; 
136-9. "Zur Geschichte des Problems des Grafen von Gleichen." 

2 Weimar edition, Vol. XLI, 2, pp. 252-253. 

3 Gesammelte Schriften, Stuttgart, 1839, IV, pp. 272-3. 



108 

and the beginning of the nineteenth and the life embodied 
therein are different from what they would have been had it 
not been for Sterne's example. Some of these secondary fruits 
of the Sterne cult have been mentioned incidentally and exem- 
plified in the foregoing pages. It would perhaps be conducive 
to definiteness to gather them here. 

Sterne's incontinuity of narration, the purposeful irrelation 
of parts, the use of anecdote and episode, which to the stumb- 
ling reader reduce his books to collections of disconnected 
essays and instances, gave to German mediocrity a sanction to 
publish a mass of multifarious, unrelated, and nondescript 
thought and incident. It is to be noted that the spurious books 
such as the Koran, which Germany never clearly sundered 
from the original, were direct examples in England of such 
disjointed, patchwork books. Such a volume with a signifi- 
cant title is "Mein Kontingent zur Modelectiire." 1 Further, ec- 
centricity in typography, in outward form, may be largely at- 
tributed to Sterne's influence, although in individual cases no 
direct connection is traceable. Thus, to the vagaries of Shandy 
is due probably the license of the author of "Karl Blumenberg, 
eine tragisch-komische Geschichte," 2 who fills half pages with 
dashes and whole lines with "Ha ! Ha !" 

As has been suggested already, Sterne's example was potent 
in fostering the use of such stylistic peculiarities, as the direct 
appeal to, and conversation with the reader about the work, 
and its progress, and the various features of the situation. It 
was in use by Sterne's predecessors in England and by their 

1 Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1775. See Gothaische Gel. Zeitungen, 1776, I, pp. 
208-9, and Allg. deutsche Bibl., XXXII, 1, p. 139. Jenaische Zeitungen von gelehr- 
ten Sachen, September 27, 1776. This does not imply that Sterne was in this re- 
spect an innovator; such books were printed before Sterne's influence was felt, e. g., 
Magacin von Einf "alien, Breslau, 1763 (?), reviewed in Leip~iger Neue Zeitungen 
von Gelehrten Sachen, February 20, 1764. See also "Reisen im Vaterlande, — Kein 
Roman aber ziemlich theatralisch-politisch und satyrischen Inhalts," two volumes; 
Konigsberg and Leipzig, 1793-4, reviewed in Allg. Lift. Zeitung, 1795, III, p. 30. 
"Der Tandler, oder Streifereyen in die Wildnisse der Finbildungskraft, in die 
Werke der Natur und menschlichen Sitten," Leipzig, 1778 (?), {Almanach der 
deutschcn Musen, 1779, p. 48). "Meine Geschichte oder Begehenheiten des Herrn 
Thomas: ein narkotisches Werk des Doktor Pifpuf," Miinster und Leipzig, 1772, pp. 
231, 8°. A strange episodical conglomerate; see Magasin der deutschen Critik, II, 
P- 135- 

2 Leipzig, 1785 or 1786. See Allg. Lift. Zeitung, 1786, III, p. 259. 



109 

followers in Germany, before Sterne can be said to have exer- 
cised any influence ; for example, Hermes uses the device con- 
stantly in "Miss Fanny Wilkes," but Sterne undoubtedly con- 
tributed largely to its popularity. One may perhaps trace to 
Sterne's blank pages and similar vagaries the eccentricity of the 
author of "Ueber die Moralische Schonheit und Philosophic 
des Lebens," 1 whose eighth chapter is titled "Vom Stolz, eine 
Erzahlung," this title occupying one page; the next page (210) 
is blank ; the following page is adorned with an urnlike decora- 
tion beneath which we read, "Es war einmal ein Priester." 
These three pages complete the chapter. The author of "Dor- 
set und Julie" (Leipzig, 1773-4) is also guilty of similar 
Yorickian follies. 2 

Sterne's ideas found approbation and currency apart from 
his general message of the sentimental and humorous attitude 
toward the world and its course. For example, the hobby- 
horse theory was warmly received, and it became a permanent 
figure in Germany, often, and especially at first, with playful 
reminder of Yorick's use of the term. 3 Yorick's mock-scien- 
tific division of travelers seems to have met with especial ap- 
proval, and evidently became a part of conversational, and 
epistolary commonplace allusion. Goethe in a letter to Mari- 
anne Willemer, November 9, 1830, 4 with direct reference to 
Sterne proposes for his son, then traveling in Italy, the ad- 
ditional designation of the "bold" or "complete" traveler. Carl 
August in a letter to Knebel, 5 dated December 26, 1785, makes 
quite extended allusion to the classification. Lessing writes to 
Mendelssohn December 12, 1780: "The traveler whom you 
sent to me a while ago was an inquisitive traveler. The one 
with whom I now answer is an emigrating one." The passage 
which follows is an apology for thus adding to Yorick's list. 

1 Altenburg, 1772, by von Schirach (?). 

2 See Auserlesene Bibl. der neuesten deutschen Litteratur, IV, pp. 320-325, and 
VII, pp. 227-234. Allg. deutsche Bibl., XXIII, 1, p. 258; XXVI, i, p. 209. 

3 Riedel uses it, for example, in his "Launen an meinen Satyr," speaking of 
"mein swiftisch Steckenthier" in "Vermischte Aufsatze," reviewed in Frankfurter 
Gel. Anz., 1772, pp. 358-9. Magazin der deutschen Critik, I, pp. 290-293. 

4 "Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Marianne Willemer (Suleika)." Edited by 
Th. Creizenach, 2d edition; Stuttgart, 1878, p. 290. 

6 "K. L. von Knebel's literarischer Nachlass und Briefwechsel;" edited by Varn- 
hagen von Ense and Th. Mundt, Leipzig, 1835, p. 147. 



110 

The two travelers were respectively one Fliess and Alexander 
Daveson. 1 Nicolai makes similar allusion to the "curious" 
traveler of Sterne's classification near the beginning of his 
"Beschreibung einer Reise durch Deutschland und die Schweiz 
im Jahre 1781." 2 

Further search would increase the number of such allusions 
indefinitely. A few will be mentioned in the following chap- 
ter. 

One of Walter Shandy's favorite contentions was the fortu- 
itous dependence of great events upon insignificant details. In 
his philosophy, trifles were the determining factors of exist- 
ence. The adoption of this theory in Germany, as a principle 
in developing events or character in fiction, is unquestionable 
in Wezel's "Tobias Knaut," and elsewhere. The narrative, 
"Die Grosse Begebenheit aus kleinen Ursachen" in the second 
volume of the Erholungen, 3 represents a wholesale appropria- 
tion of the idea, — to be sure not new in Shandy, but most 
strikingly exemplified there. 

In "Sebaldus Nothanker" the Revelation of St. John is a 
Sterne-like hobby-horse and is so regarded by a reviewer in the 
Magazin der deutschen Critik. 4 Schottenius in Knigge's 
"Reise nach Braunschweig" rides his hobby in the shape of his 
fifty-seven sermons. 5 Lessing uses the Steckenpferd in a let- 
ter to Mendelssohn, November 5, 1768 (Lachmann edition, 
XII, p. 212), and numerous other examples of direct or in- 
direct allusion might be cited. Sterne's worn-out coin was a 
simile adopted and felt to be pointed. 6 

Jacob Minor in a suggestive article in Eiiphorion, 1 entitled 
"Wahrheit und Luge auf dem Theater und in der Literatur," 
expressed the opinion that Sterne was instrumental in sharpen- 
ing powers of observation with reference to self-deception in 
little things, to all the deceiving impulses of the human soul. 

1 See Mendelssohn's Schriften; edited by G. B Mendelssohn, Leipzig, 1844, V, 
p. 202. See also letter of Mendelssohn to Lessing, February 18, 1780. 

2 Third edition, Berlin and Stettin, 1788, p. 14. 

3 II, pp. 218 ft. 

4 II, 2, p. 127. 

6 These two cases are mentioned also by Riemann in "Goethe's Romantechnik." 
8 See Frankfurter Gel. Am., May 8, 1772, p. 296. 

7 III, pp. 276 ff. 



Ill 

It is held that through Sterne's inspiration Wieland and Goethe 
were rendered zealous to combat false ideals and life-lies in 
greater things. It is maintained that Tieck also was schooled 
in Sterne, and, by means of powers of observation sharpened 
in this way, was enabled to portray the conscious or uncon- 
scious life-lie. 



CHAPTER VI 

IMITATORS OF STERNE 

Among the disciples of Sterne in Germany whose literary 
imitation may be regarded as typical of their master's influ- 
ence, Johann Georg Jacobi is perhaps the best known. His re- 
lation to the famous "Lorenzodosen" conceit is sufficient to link 
his name with that of Yorick. Martin 1 asserts that he was 
called "Uncle Toby" in Gleim's circle because of his enthusiasm 
for Sterne. The indebtedness of Jacobi to Sterne is the sub- 
ject of a special study by Dr. Joseph Longo, "Laurence 
Sterne und Johann Georg Jacobi ;" and the period of 
Jacobi's literary work which falls under the spell of Yorick 
has also been treated in an inaugural dissertation, "Ueber 
Johann Georg Jacobi's Jugendwerke," by Georg Ransohoff. 
The detail of Jacobi's indebtedness to Sterne is to be found in 
these two works. 

Longo was unable to settle definitely the date of Jacobi's first 
acquaintance with Sterne. The first mention made of him is in 
the letter to Gleim of April 4, 1769, and a few days afterward, 
— April 10, — the intelligence is afforded that he himself is 
working on a "journey." The "Winterreise" was published at 
Diisseldorf in the middle of June, 1769. Externally the work 
seems more under the influence of the French wanderer 
Chapelle, since prose and verse are used irregularly alternat- 
ing, a style quite different from the English model. There 
are short and unnumbered chapters, as in the Sentimental Jour- 
ney, but, unlike Sterne, Jacobi, with one exception, names no 
places and makes no attempt at description of place or people, 
other than the sentimental individuals encountered on the way. 
He makes no analysis of national, or even local characteristics : 
the journey, in short, is almost completely without place-influ- 

1 Quellen und Forschungen, II, p. 27. 

112 



113 

ence. There is in the volume much more exuberance of 
fancy, grotesque at times, a more conscious exercise of the 
picturing imagination than we find in Sterne. There is 
use, too, of mythological figures quite foreign to Sterne, an 
obvious reminiscence of Jacobi's Anacreontic experience. He 
exaggerates Yorick's sentimentalism, is more weepy, more 
tender, more sympathizing; yet, as Longo does not sufficiently 
emphasize, he does not touch the whimsical side of Yorick's 
work. Jacobi, unlike his model, but in common with other 
German imitators, is insistent in instruction and serious 
in contention for pet theories, as is exemplified by the discus- 
sion of the doctrine of immortality. There are opinions to be 
maintained, there is a message to be delivered. Jacobi in this 
does not give the lie to his nationality. 

Like other German imitators, too, he took up with 
especial feeling the relations between man and the animal 
world, an attitude to be connected with several familiar 
episodes in Sterne. 1 The two chapters, "Der Heerd" and 
"Der Taubenschlag," tell of a sentimental farmer who 
mourns over the fact that his son has cut down a tree in 
which the nightingale was wont to nest. A similar senti- 
mental regard is cherished in this family for the doves, which 
no one killed, because no one could eat them. Even as Yorick 
meets a Franciscan, Jacobi encounters a Jesuit whose heart 
leaps to meet his own, and later, after the real journey is done, 
a visit to a lonely cloister gives opportunity for converse with a 
monk, like Pater Lorenzo, — tender, simple and humane. 

The "Sommerreise," according to Longo, appeared in the 
latter part of September, 1769, a less important work, which, 
in the edition of 1807, Jacobi considered unworthy of preserva- 
tion. Imitation of Sterne is marked : following a criticism by 
Wieland the author attempts to be humorous, but with du- 
bious success ; he introduces a Sterne-like sentimental character 
which had not been used in the "Winterreise," a beggar-soldier, 

1 Jacobi remarked, in his preface to the "Winterreise" in the edition of 1807, that 
this section, "Der Taubenschlag" is not to be reckoned as bearing the trace of the 
then condemned "Empfindeley," for many authors, ancient and modern, have taken 
up the cause of animals against man; yet Sterne is probably the source of Jacobi's 
expression of his feeling. 



114 

and he repeats the motif of human sympathy for animals in the 
story of the lamb. Sympathy with erring womanhood is ex- 
pressed in the incidents related in "Die Fischerhiitte" and "Der 
Geistliche." These two books were confessedly inspired by 
Yorick, and contemporary criticism treated them as Yorick 
products. The Deutsche Bibliothek der schonen Wissenschaf- 
ten, published by Jacobi's friend Klotz, would naturally favor 
the volumes. Its review of the "Winterreise" is non-critical 
and chiefly remarkable for the denial of foreign imitation. 
The Allgemeine dentsche Bibliothek, 1 in reviewing the same 
work pays a significant tribute to Sterne, praising his power of 
disclosing the good and beautiful in the seemingly common- 
place. In direct criticism of the book, the reviewer calls it a 
journey of fancy, the work of a youthful poet rather than that 
of a sensitive philosopher. Wieland is credited with the as- 
tounding opinion that he prefers the "Sommerreise" to 
Yorick's journey. 2 Longo's characterization of Sterne is in 
the main satisfactory, yet there is distinctly traceable the ten- 
dency to ignore or minimize the whimsical elements of Sterne's 
work: this is the natural result of his approach to Sterne, 
through Jacobi, who understood only the sentimentalism of 
the English master. 3 

Among the works of sentiment which were acknowledged 
imitations of Yorick, along with Jacobi's "Winterreise," prob- 
ably the most typical and best known was the "Empfindsame 
Reisen durch Deutschland" by Johann Gottlieb Schummel. 
Its importance as a document in the history of sentimentalism 
is rather as an example of tendency than as a force contributing 
materially to the spread of the movement. Its influence was 

1 XI, 2, pp. 16 f. 

2 For reviews of the "Sommerreise" see Allg. deutsche Bibl., XIII, i, p. 261. 
Deutsche Bibl. der schonen Wissenschaften, IV, p. 354, and Neue Critische Nach- 
richten, Greifswald, V, p. 406. Almanack der deutschen Musen, 1770, p. 112. The 
"Winterreise" is also reviewed there, p. no. 

3 Some minor points may be noted. Longo implies (page 2) that it was Bode's 
translation of the original Sentimental Journey which was re-issued in four 
volumes, Hamburg and Bremen, 1769, whereas the edition was practically identical 
with the previous one, and the two added volumes were those of Stevenson's con- 
tinuation. Longo calls Sterne's Eliza "Elisha" (p. 28) and Tristram's father be- 
comes Sir Walter Shandy (p. 37), an unwarranted exaltation of the retired 
merchant. 



115 

probably not great, though one reviewer does hint at a follow- 
ing. 1 Yet the book has been remembered more persistently 
than any other work of its genre, except Jacobi's works, un- 
doubtedly in part because it was superior to many of its kind, 
partly, also, because its author won later and maintained a 
position of some eminence, as a writer and a pedagogue ; but 
largely because Goethe's well-known review of it in the Frank- 
furter Gelehrte Anzeigen has been cited as a remarkably acute 
contribution to the discriminating criticism of the genuine and 
the affected in the eighteenth-century literature of feeling, and 
has drawn attention from the very fact of its source to the 
object of its criticism. 

Schummel was born in May, 1748, and hence was but twenty 
years of age when Germany began to thrill in response to 
Yorick's sentiments. It is probable that the first volume was 
written while Schummel was still a university student in 1768- 
1770. He assumed a position as teacher in 1771, but the 
first volume came out at Easter of that year; this would 
probably throw its composition back into the year before. 
The second volume appeared at Michaelmas of the same 
year. His publisher was Zimmermann at Wittenberg and 
Zerbst, and the first volume at any rate was issued in a new 
edition. The third volume came out in the spring of 1772. 2 
Schummel's title, "Empfindsame Reisen," is, of course, taken 
from the newly coined word in Bode's title, but in face of this 
fact it is rather remarkable to find that several quotations from 
Sterne's Journey, given in the course of the work, are from 
the Mittelstedt translation. On two occasions, indeed, Schum- 
mel uses the title of the Mittelstedt rendering as first published, 
"Versuch iiber die menschliche Natur." 3 

These facts lead one to believe that Schummel drew his in- 
spiration from the reading of this translation. This is interest- 
ing in connection with Bottiger's claim that the whole caval- 
cade of sentimental travelers who trotted along after Yorick 
with all sorts of animals and vehicles was a proof of the excel- 
lence and power of Bode's translation. As one would natur- 

1 Review in the Jenaische Zeitungen von Gel. Sachen. 

2 I, pp. 314 + 20; II, 337; III, 330. 
* I, p. 156; III, p. 318. 



116 

ally infer from the title of Schummel's fiction, the Sentimental 
Journey is more constantly drawn upon as a source of ideas, 
motifs, expression, and method, than Tristram Shandy, but the 
allusions to Sterne's earlier book, and the direct adaptations 
from it are both numerous and generous. This fact has not 
been recognized by the critics, and is not an easy inference 
from the contemporary reviews. 

The book is the result of an immediate impulse to imitation 
felt irresistibly on the reading of Sterne's narrative. That the 
critics and readers of that day treated with serious considera- 
tion the efforts of a callow youth of twenty or twenty-one in 
this direction is indicative either of comparative vigor of exe- 
cution, or of prepossession of the critical world in favor of the 
literary genre, — doubtless of both. Schummel confesses that 
the desire to write came directly after the book had been read. 
"I had just finished reading it," he says, "and Heaven knows 
with what pleasure, every word from 'as far as this matter is 
concerned' on to T seized the hand of the lady's maid,' were 
imprinted in my soul with small invisible letters." The char- 
acters of the Journey stood "life-size in his very soul." Invol- 
untarily his inventive powers had sketched several plans for 
a continuation, releasing Yorick from the hand of the fille 
de chambre. But what he attempts is not a continuation but a 
German parallel. 

In the outward events of his story, in the general trend of its 
argument, Schummel does not depend upon either Shandy or 
the Journey: the hero's circumstances are in general not 
traceable to the English model, but, spasmodically, the manner 
of narration and the nature of the incidents are quite slavishly 
copied. A complete summary of the thread of incident on 
which the various sentimental adventures, whimsical specula- 
tions and digressions are hung, can be dispensed with : it is 
only necessary to note instances where connection with Sterne 
as a model can be established. Schummers narrative is often 
for many successive pages absolutely straightforward and 
simple, unbroken by any attempt at Shandean buoyancy, and 
unblemished by overwrought sentiment. At the pausing places 
he generally indulges in Sternesque quibbling. 



117 

A brief analysis of the first volume, with especial reference to 
the appropriation of Yorick features, will serve to show the ex- 
tent of imitation, and the nature of the method. In outward 
form the Sentimental Journey is copied. The volume is not 
divided into chapters, but there are named divisions: there is 
also Yorick-like repetition of section-headings. Naturally the 
author attempts at the very beginning to strike a note dis- 
tinctly suggesting Sterne: "Is he dead, the old cousin?" are 
the first words of the volume, uttered by the hero on receipt of 
the news, and in Yorick fashion he calls for guesses concerning 
the mien with which the words were said. The conversation 
of the various human passions with Yorick concerning the ad- 
visability of offering the lady in Calais a seat in his chaise is 
here directly imitated in the questions put by avarice, vanity, 
etc., concerning the cousin's death. The actual journey does 
not begin until page 97, a brief autobiography of the hero oc- 
cupying the first part of the book; this inconsequence is con- 
fessedly intended to be a Tristram Shandy whim. 1 The 
author's relation to his parents is adapted directly from 
Shandy, since he here possesses an incapable, unpractical, 
philosophizing father, who determines upon methods for the 
superior education of his son ; and a simple, silly mockery of a 
mother. 

Left, however, an orphan, he begins his sentimental ad- 
ventures: thrust on the world he falls in with a kindly 
baker's wife whose conduct toward him brings tears to the 
eyes of the ten-year old lad, this showing his early appetite for 
sentimental journeying. A large part of this first section re- 
lating to his early life and youthful struggles, his kindly ben- 
efactor, his adventure with Potiphar's wife, is simple and di- 
rect, with only an occasional hint of Yorick's influence in word 
or phrase, as if the author, now and then, recalled the purpose 
and the inspiration. For example, not until near the bottom 
of page 30 does it occur to him to be abrupt and indulge in 
Shandean eccentricities, and then again, after a few lines, he 
resumes the natural order of discourse. -And again, on page 83, 
he breaks off into attempted frivolity and Yorick whimsicality 

1 Schummel states this himself, III, p. 320. 



118 

of narration. In starting out upon his journey the author says : 
"I will tread in Yorick's foot-prints, what matters it if I do 
not fill them out ? My heart is not so broad as his, the sooner can 
it be filled ; my head is not so sound ; my brain not so regularly 
formed. My eyes are not so clear, but for that he was born 
in England and I in Germany; he is a man and I am but a 
youth, in short, he is Yorick and I am not Yorick." He de- 
termines to journey where it is most sentimental and passes 
the various lands in review in making his decision. Having 
fastened upon Germany, he questions himself similarly with 
reference to the cities. Yorick's love of lists, of mock-serious 
discrimination, of inconsequential reasonings is here copied. 
The call upon epic, tragic, lyric poets, musicians, etc., which 
follows here is a further imitation of Yorick's list-making and 
pseudo-scientific method. 

On his way to Leipzig, in the post-chaise, the author falls in 
with a clergyman : the manner of this meeting is intended to be 
Sterne-like : Schummel sighs, the companion remarks, "You too 
are an unhappy one," and they join hands while the human 
heart beams in the traveler's eyes. They weep too at parting. 
But, apart from these external incidents of their meeting, the 
matter of their converse is in no way inspired by Sterne. It 
joins itself with the narrative of the author's visit to a church 
in a village by the wayside, and deals in general with the nature 
of the clergyman's relation to his people and the general medioc- 
rity and ineptitude of the average homiletical discourse, the 
failure of clergymen to relate their pulpit utterance to the life 
of the common Christian, — all of which is genuine, sane and 
original, undoubtedly a real protest on the part of Schummel, 
the pedagogue, against a prevailing abuse of his time and 
other times. This section represents unquestionably the 
earnest convictions of its author, and is written with profes- 
sional zeal. This division is followed by an evidently pur- 
poseful return to Sterne's eccentricity of manner. The 
author begins a division of his narrative, ''Der zerbrochene 
Postwagen," which is probably meant to coincide with the 
post-chaise accident in Shandy's travels, writes a few lines in 
it, then begins the section again, something like the interrupted 



119 

story of the King of Bohemia and his Seven Castles. Then fol- 
lows an abrupt discursive study of his aptitudes and proclivi- 
ties, interspersed with Latin exclamations, interrogation points 
and dashes. "What a parenthesis is that!" he cries, and a few 
lines further on, "I burn with longing to begin a parenthesis 
again." On his arrival in Leipzig, Schummel imitates 
closely Sterne's satirical guide-book description of Calais 1 
in his brief account of the city, breaking off abruptly like 
Sterne, and roundly berating all "Reisebeschreiber." Here 
in fitting contrast with this superficial enumeration of 
facts stands his brief traveler's creed, an interest in people 
rather than in places, all of which is derived from Sterne's 
chapter, "In the Street, Calais," in which the master dis- 
closes the sentimental possibilities of traveling and typifies 
the superficial, unemotional wanderer in the persons of Smel- 
fungus and Mundungus, and from the familiar passage in 
"The Passport, Versailles," beginning, "But I could wish to 
spy out the nakedness, etc." No sooner is he arrived in Leip- 
zig, than he accomplishes a sentimental rescue of an unfortu- 
nate woman on the street. In the expression of her imme- 
diate needs, Schummel indulges for the first time in a row of 
stars, with the obvious intention of raising a low suggestion, 
which he contradicts with mock-innocent questionings a few 
lines later, thereby fastening the attention on the possibility of 
vulgar interpretation. Sterne is guilty of this device in nu- 
merous instances in both his works, and the English continua- 
tion of the Sentimental Journey relies upon it in greater and 
more revolting measure. 

Once established in his hotel, the author betakes himself to 
the theater: this very act he feels will bring upon him the 
censure of the critics, for Yorick went to the theater too. "A 
merchant's boy went along before me," he says in naive de- 
fense, "was he also an imitator of Yorick?" On the way he 
meets a fair maid-in-waiting, and the relation between her and 
the traveler, developed here and later, is inspired directly by 
Yorick's connection with the fair Mle de chambre. Schummel 
imitates Sterne's excessive detail of description, devoting a 

1 Tristram Shandy, III, 51-54. 



120 

whole paragraph to his manner of removing his hat before 
a lady whom he encounters on this walk to the theater. 
This was another phase of Sterne's pseudo-scientific method: 
he describes the trivial with the attitude of the trained ob- 
server, registering minutely the detail of phenomena, a mock- 
parade of scholarship illustrated by his description of Trim's 
attitude while reading his sermon, or the dropping of the hat 
in the kitchen during the memorable scene when the news of 
Bobby's death is brought. 

In Schummel's narration of his adventures in the house of 
ill-repute there are numerous sentimental excrescences in his 
conduct with the poor prisoner there, due largely to Yorick's 
pattern, such as their weeping on one another's breast, and his 
wiping away her tears and his, drawn from Yorick's amiable 
service for Maria of Moulines, an act seemingly expressing the 
most refined human sympathy. The remaining events of this 
first volume include an unexpected meeting with the kind 
baker's wife, which takes place at Gellert's grave. Yorick's 
imitators were especially fond of re-introducing a sentimental 
relationship. Yorick led the way in his renewed acquaintance 
with the fille de chambre; Stevenson in his continuation went 
to extremes in exploiting this cheap device. 

Other motifs derived from Sterne, less integral, may be 
briefly summarized. From the Sentimental Journey is taken 
the motif that valuable or interesting papers be used to wrap 
ordinary articles of trade: here herring are wrapped in frag- 
ments of the father's philosophy; in the Sentimental Journey 
we find a similar degrading use for the "Fragment." Schum- 
mel breaks off the chapter "La Naive," 1 under the Sternesque 
subterfuge of having to deliver manuscript to an insistent 
publisher. Yorick writes his preface to the Journey in the 
"Desobligeant," that is, in the midst of the narrative itself. 
Schummel modifies the eccentricity merely by placing his fore- 
word at the end of the volume. The value of it, he says, will 
repay the reader for waiting so long, — a statement which finds 
little justification in the preface itself. It begins, "Auweh ! 

1 Pp. 256-265. 



121 

Auweh ! Ouais, Helas ! . . . Diable, mein Rucken, mein 
Fuss !" and so on for half a page, — a pitiful effort to follow the 
English master's wilful and skilful incoherence. The follow- 
ing pages, however, once this outbreak is at an end, contain a 
modicum of sense, the feeble, apologetic explanation of his 
desire in imitating Yorick, given in forethought of the critics' 
condemnation. Similarly the position of the dedication is un- 
usual, in the midst of the volume, even as the dedication of 
Shandy was roguishly delayed. The dedication itself, how- 
ever, is not an imitation of Sterne's clever satire, but, addressed 
to Yorick himself, is a striking example of burning personal 
devotion and over-wrought praise. Schummel hopes 1 in 
Sterne fashion to write a chapter on "Voriibergeben," or in the 
chapter "Das Komodienhaus" (pp. 185-210) to write a digres- 
sion on "Walking behind a maid." Like Sterne, he writes in 
praise of digressions. 2 In imitation of Sterne is conceived the 
digressive speculation concerning the door through which at 
the beginning of the book he is cast into the rude world. 
Among further expressions savoring of Sterne, may be men- 
tioned a "Centner of curses" (p. 39), a "Ouentchen of 
curses," and the analytical description of a tone of voice as 
one-fourth questioning, five-eighths entreating and one-eighth 
commanding (p. 229). 

The direct allusions to Sterne and his works are numerous. 
A list of Sterne characters which were indelibly impressed 
upon his mind is found near the very beginning (pp. 3-4) ; 
other allusions are to M. Dessein (p. 65), La Fleur's "Courier- 
stiefel" (p. 115), the words of the dying Yorick (p. 128), the 
pococurantism of Mrs. Shandy (p. 187), the division of trav- 
elers into types (p. 141), Uncle Toby (p. 200), Yorick's violin- 
playing (p. 274), the foolish fat scullion (p. 290), Yorick's 
description of a maid's (p. 188) eyes, "als ob sie zwischen vier 
Wanden einem Garaus machen konnten." 

The second volume is even more incoherent in narration, and 
contains less genuine occurrence and more ill-considered at- 
tempts at whimsicality, yet throughout this volume there are 

»P. 3+ 

2 Shandy, I, p. 75; Schummel, I, p. 265. 



122 

indications that the author is awakening to the vulnerability of 
his position, and this is in no other particular more easily dis- 
cernible than in the half-hearted defiance of the critics and 
his anticipation of their censure. The change, so extraordi- 
nary in the third volume, is foreshadowed in the second. 
Purely sentimental, effusive, and abundantly teary is the story 
of the rescued baker's wife. In this excess of sentiment, 
Schummel shows his intellectual appreciation of Sterne's in- 
dividual treatment of the humane and pathetic, for near the 
end of the poor woman's narrative the author seems to recol- 
lect a fundamental sentence of Sterne's creed, the inevitable 
admixture of the whimsical, and here he introduces into the 
sentimental relation a Shandean idiosyncrasy : from page 43 
the narrative leaps back to the beginning of the volume, and 
Schummel advises the reader to turn back and re-read, re- 
ferring incidentally to his confused fashion of narration. The 
awkwardness with which this is done proves Schummel's in- 
ability to follow Yorick, though its use shows his appreciation 
of Sterne's peculiar genius. The visit of the author, the 
baker's wife and her daughter (the former lady's maid) to the 
graveyard is Yorickian in flavor, and the plucking of nettles 
from the grave of the dead epileptic is a direct borrowing. At- 
tempts to be immorally, sensuously suggestive in the manner 
of Sterne are found in the so-called chapter on "Button-holes," 
here cast in a more Shandean vein, and in the adventure "die 
angstliche Nacht," — in the latter case resembling more the less 
frank, more insinuating method of the Sentimental Journey. 
The sentimental attitude toward man's dumb companions is 
imitated in his adventure with the house-dog ; the author fears 
the barking of this animal may disturb the sleep of the poor 
baker's wife: he beats the dog into silence, then grows re- 
morseful and wishes "that I had given him no blow," or that 
the dog might at least give him back the blows. His thought 
that the dog might be pretending its pain, he designates a 
subtle subterfuge of his troubled conscience, and Goethe, in 
the review mentioned above, exclaims, "A fine pendant to 
Yorick's scene with the Monk." 

Distinctly Shandean are the numerous digressions, as on imi- 



123 

tation (p. i6), on authors and fairs (p. 45), that which he calls 
(pp. 226-238) "ein ganz originelles Gemische von Wiz, Bele- 
senheit, Scharfsinn, gesunder Philosophic, Erfahrung, Algebra 
und Mechanik," or (p. 253) "Von der Entstehungsart eines 
Buches nach Erfindung der Buchdrukerkunst," which in ref- 
erence to Sterne's phrase, is called a "jungfrauliche Materie." 
He promises (pp. 75 and 108), like Sterne, to write numerous 
chapters on extraordinary subjects, — indeed, he announces his 
intention of supplementing the missing sections of Shandy on 
"Button-holes" and on the "Right and Left (sic) end of a 
Woman." His own promised effusions are to be "Ueber die 
roten und schwarzen Roke, "iiber die Verbindung der The- 
ologie mit Schwarz," "Europaischenfrauenzimmerschuhab- 
satze," half a one "Ueber die Schuhsohlen" and "Ueber meinen 
Namen." 

His additions to Shandy are flat and witless, that on the 
"Right and Wrong End of a Woman" (pp. 88 ff.) degenerating 
into three brief narratives displaying woman's susceptibility to 
flattery, the whole idea probably adapted from Sterne's chapter, 
"An Act of Charity;" the chapter on "Button-holes" is made 
a part of the general narrative of his relation to his "Naive." 
Weakly whimsical is his seeking pardon for the discourse with 
which the Frenchman (pp. 62-66), under the pretext that it 
belonged somewhere else and had inadvertently crept in. 
Shandean also is the black margin to pages 199-206, the line 
upside down (p. 175), the twleve irregularly printed lines (p. 
331), inserted to indicate his efforts in writing with a burned 
hand, the lines of dashes and exclamation points, the mathe- 
matical, financial calculation of the worth of his book from va- 
rious points of view, and the description of the maiden's walk 
(p. 291). Sterne's mock-scientific method, as already noted, 
is observable again in the statement of the position of the 
dagger "at an angle of 30 " (p. 248). His coining of new 
words, for which he is censured by the Allgemeine deutsche 
Bibliothek, is also a legacy of Yorick's method. 

The third volume bears little relation to Sterne aside from 
its title, and one can only wonder, in view of the criticism of the 
two parts already published and the nature of the author's own 



124 

partial revulsion of feeling, that he did not give up publishing 
it altogether, or choose another title, and sunder the work en- 
tirely from the foregoing volumes, with which it has in fact so 
contradictory a connection. It may be that his relations to 
the publisher demanded the issuing of the third part under the 
same title. 

This volume is easily divisible into several distinct parts, 
which are linked with one another, and to the preceding nar- 
rative, only by a conventional thread of inroduction. These 
comprise : the story of Caroline and Rosenfeld, a typical eight- 
eenth century tale of love, seduction and flight; the hosts' bal- 
lad, "Es war einmahl ein Edelmann ;" the play, "Die unschul- 
dige Ehebrecherin'' and "Mein Tagebuch," the journal of an 
honest preacher, and a further sincere exploitation of Schum- 
mel's ideas upon the clergyman's office, his ideal of simplicity, 
kindliness, and humanity. In the latter part of the book 
Schummel resumes his original narrative, and indulges once 
more in the luxury of sentimental adventure, but without the 
former abortive attempts at imitating Sterne's peculiarities of 
diction. This last resumption of the sentimental creed intro- 
duces to us one event evidently inspired by Yorick: he meets 
a poor, maimed soldier-beggar. Since misfortune has deprived 
the narrator himself of his possessions, he can give nothing and 
goes a begging for the beggar's sake, introducing the new and 
highly sentimental idea of "vicarious begging" (pp. 268-9). ^ n 
the following episode, a visit to a child-murderess, Schummel 
leaves a page entirely blank as an appropriate proof of inca- 
apcity to express his emotions attendant on the execution of 
the unfortunate. Sterne also left a page blank for the descrip- 
tion of the Widow Wadman's charms. 

At the very end of the book Schummel drops his narra- 
tive altogether and discourses upon his own work. It 
would be difficult to find in any literature so complete a 
condemnation of one's own serious and extensive endeavor, 
so candid a criticism of one's own work, so frank an ac- 
knowledgment of the pettiness of one's achievement. He 
says his work, as an imitation of Sterne's two novels, has 
"few or absolutely no beauties of the original, and many faults 



125 

of its own." He states that his enthusiasm for Tristram has 
been somewhat dampened by Sonnenfels and Riedel ; he sees 
now faults which should not have been imitated ; the frivolous 
attitude of the narrator toward his father and mother is depre- 
cated, and the suggestion is given that this feature was de- 
rived from Tristram's own frankness concerning the eccen- 
tricities and incapacities of his parents. He begs reference to 
a passage in the second volume 1 where the author alludes with 
warmth of appreciation to his real father and mother ; that is, 
genuine regard overcame the temporary blindness, real affec- 
tion arose and thrust out the transitory inclination to an alien 
whimsicality. 

Schummel admits that he has utterly failed in his effort 
to characterize the German people in the way Sterne treated 
the English and French ; he confesses that the ninety-page 
autobiography which precedes the journey itself was in- 
tended to be Tristram-like, but openly stigmatizes his own 
failure as "ill conceived, incoherent and not very well told!" 
After mentioning some few incidents and passages in this first 
section which he regards as passable, he boldly condemns the 
rest as "almost beneath all criticism," and the same words are 
used with reference to much that follows, in which he con- 
fesses to imitation, bad taste and intolerable indelicacy. He calls 
his pathetic attempts at whimsical mannerisms (Heideldum, 
etc.), "klaglich, uberaus klaglich," expresses the opinion that 
one would not be surprised at the reader who would throw 
away the whole book at such a passage. The words of the 
preacher in the two sections where he is allowed to air his opin- 
ions still meet with his approval, and the same is true of one or 
two other sections. In conclusion, he states that the first part 
contains hardly one hundred good pages, and that the second 
part is worse than the first, so that he is unwilling to look at 
it again and seek out its faults. The absence of allusions to 
Sterne's writings is marked, except in the critical section at 
the end, he mentions Sterne but once (p. 239), where he calls 
him "schnurrigt." This alteration of feeling must have taken 
place in a brief space of time, for the third volume is signed 

1 11, p. 117. 



126 

April 25, 1772. It is not easy to establish with probability the 
works of Sonnenfels and Riedel which are credited with a 
share in this revulsion of feeling. 

In all of this Schummel is a discriminating critic of his own 
work ; he is also discerning in his assertion that the narrative 
contained in his volume is conceived more in the vein of Field- 
ing and Richardson. The Sterne elements are rather em- 
broidered on to the other fabric, or, as he himself says, using 
another figure, "only fried in Shandy fat." 1 

Goethe's criticism of the second volume, already alluded to, 
is found in the Frankfurter Gelehrte Anseigen in the issue of 
March 3, 1772. The nature of the review is familiar: Goethe 
calls the book a thistle which he has found on Yorick's grave. 
"Alles," he says, "hat es dem guten Yorick geraubt, Speer, 
Helm und Lanze, nur Schade ! inwendig steckt der Herr 
Praceptor S. zu Magdeburg . . . Yorick empfand, und dieser 
setzt sich hin zu empfinden. Yorick wird von seiner Laune 
ergriffen, und weinte und lachte in einer Minute und durch 
die Magie der Sympathie lachen und weinen wir mit: hier 
aber steht einer und iiberlegt: wie lache und weine ich? was 
werden die Leute sagen, wenn ich lache und weine?" etc. 
Schummel is stigmatized as a childish imitator and his book 
is censured as "beneath criticism," oddly enough the very judg- 
ment its own author accords but a few weeks later on the com- 
pletion of the third volume. The review contains several cita- 
tions illustrative of Schummel's style. 

The first two parts were reviewed in the Allgemeine deutsche 
Bibliothek. 2 The length of the review is testimony to the in- 
terest in the book, and the tone of the article, though frankly 
unfavorable, is not so emphatically censorious as the one first 
noted. It is observed that Schummel has attempted the impos- 
sible, — the adoption of another's "Laune," and hence his failure. 
The reviewer notes, often with generous quotations, the more 
noticeable, direct imitations from Sterne, the conversation of 
the emotions, the nettle-plu eking at the grave, the eccentric 
orthography and the new-coined words. Several passages of 

1 In "Das Kapitel von meiner Lebensart," II, pp. 113 ff. 
-XVI, 2, pp. 682-689. 



127 

comment or comparison testify to the then current admiration 
of Yorick, and the conventional German interpretation of his 
character; "sein gutes, empfindungsvolles Herz, mit Tugend 
und sittlichem Gefiihl erfiillt." The review is signed "Sr:" 1 

A critic in the Jenaische Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen for 
January 17, 1772, treating the first two volumes, expresses the 
opinion that Jacobi, the author of the "Tagereise," and Schum- 
mel have little but the title from Yorick. The author's seeking 
for opportunity to dissolve in emotion is contrasted unfavor- 
ably with Yorick's method, the affected style is condemned, yet 
it is admitted that the work promises better things from its 
talented author; his power of observation and his good heart 
are not to be unacknowledged. The severity of the review is 
directed against the imitators already arising. 

The Magazin der deutschen Critik 2 reviews the third volume 
with favorable comment ; the comedy which Schummel saw fit 
to insert is received with rather extraordinary praise, and the 
author is urged to continue work in the drama ; a desire is ex- 
pressed even for a fourth part. The Hamburgische Neue 
Zeitung, June 4 and October 29, 1771, places Schummel un- 
hesitatingly beside the English master, calls him as original as 
his pattern, to Sterne belongs the honor only of the invention. 
The author is hailed as a genius whose talents should be sup- 
ported, so that Germany would not have to envy England her 
Yorick. 3 

After Schummel's remarkable self-chastisement, one could 
hardly expect to find in his subsequent works evidence of 
Sterne's influence, save as unconsciously a dimmed admira- 
tion might exert a certain force. Probably contemporaneous 
with the composition of the third volume of the work, but pos- 
sibly earlier, Schummel wrote the fourth part of a ponderous 
novel by a fellow Silesian, Christian Opitz, entitled "Die 
Gleichheit der menschlichen Herzen, bey der Ungleichheit 
ihrer ausserlichen Umstande in der Geschichte Herrn Red- 

1 The third part is reviewed (Hr) in XIX, 2, pp. 576-7, but without significant 
contribution to the question. 

2 I, 2, pp. 66-74, the second number of 1772. Review is signed "S." 

3 Another review of Schummel's book is found in the Almanack der deutschen 
Musen, 1773, p. 106. 



128 

lichs unci seiner Bedienten." Goedeke implies that Opitz was 
the author of all but the last part, but the reviewer in the 
Allgemeine dcutschc Bibliothek 1 maintains that each part has 
a different author, and quotes the preface to the fourth as sub- 
stantiation. According to this review both the second and 
fourth parts are characterized by a humorous fashion in writ- 
ing, and the last is praised as being the best of the four. It 
seems probable that Schummel's enthusiasm for Sterne 
played its part in the composition of this work. 

Possibly encouraged by the critic's approbation, Schummel 
devoted his literary effort for the following years largely to 
the drama. In 1774 he published his "Uebersetzer-Bibliothek 
zum Gebrauche der Uebersetzer, Schulmanner und Liebhaber 
der alten Litteratur." The reviewer 2 in the Allgemeine 
dcutsche Bibliothek finds passages in this book in which the 
author of the "Empfindsame Reisen" is visible, — where his 
fancy runs away with his reason, — and a passage is quoted in 
which reference is made to Slawkenberg's book on noses. It 
would seem that the seeking for wit survived the crude senti- 
mentality. 

Two years later Schummel published "Fritzen's Reise nach 
Dessau," 3 a work composed of letters from a twelve-year 
old boy, written on a journey from Magdeburg to Dessau. 
The letters are quite without whim or sentiment, and the 
book has been remembered for the extended description 
of Basedow's experimental school, "Philantropin" (opened 
in 1774). Its account has been the source of the informa- 
tion given of this endeavor in some pedagogical treatises 4 
and it was re-issued, as a document in the history of 
pedagogical experiment, in Leipzig, by Albert Richter 
in 1891. About fifteen years later still the "Reise durch 

1 XI, 2, p. 344; XV, 1, p. 249; XVII, 1, p. 244. Also entitled "Begebenheiten 
des Herrn Rcdlich," the novel was published Wittenberg, 1756-71; Frankfurt and 
Leipzig, 1768-71. 

2 XXVIII, 1, pp. 199 ff. Reviewed also in Auserlesene Bibliothek der neusten 
deutschen Litteratur, Lemgo, VII, p. 234 (1775) and Neue litterarische Unter- 
haltungen, Breslau, I, pp. 660-691. 

3 Leipzig, Crusius, 1776, pp. 120. Baker, influenced by title and authorship, in- 
cludes it among the literary progeny of Yorick. It has no connection with Sterne. 

4 See Jahresberichte fur neuere deutsche Litteratur-geschichte, II, p. 106 (1893). 



129 

Schlesien" 1 was issued. It is a simple narrative of a real 
journey with description of places and people, frankly per- 
sonal, almost epistolary in form, without a suggestion of Sterne- 
like whim or sentiment. One passage is significant as indi- 
cating the author's realization of his change of attitude. The 
sight of a group of prisoners bound by a chain calls to his 
memory his former sentimental extravagance, and he ex- 
claims : "Twenty years ago, when I was still a sentimental 
traveler, I would have wasted many an 'Oh' and 'alas' over 
this scene ; at present, since I have learned to know the world 
and mankind somewhat more intimately, I think otherwise." 

Johann Christian Bock (1724-1785), who was in 1772 
theater-poet of the Ackerman Company in Hamburg, soon 
after the publication of the Sentimental Journey, identified 
himself with the would-be Yoricks by the production of "Die 
Tagereise," which was published at Leipzig in 1770. The 
work was re-issued in 1775 with the new title "Die Geschichte 
eines empfundenen Tages." 2 The only change in the 
new edition was the addition of a number of copper- 
plate engravings. The book is inspired in part by Sterne 
directly, and in part indirectly through the intermediary 
Jacobi. Unlike the work of Schummel just treated, it 
betrays no Shandean influence, but is dependent solely on 
the Sentimental Journey. In outward form the book resem- 
bles Jacobi's "Winterreise," since verse is introduced to vary 
the prose narrative. The attitude of the author toward his 
journey, undertaken with conscious purpose, is characteristic 
of the whole set of emotional sentiment-seekers, who found in 
their Yorick a challenge to go and do likewise: "Everybody 
is journeying, I thought, and took Yorick and Jacobi with me. 
... I will really see whether I too may not chance upon a 
iille de chambre or a harvest-maid," is a very significant 
statement of his inspiration and intention. Once started on 
his journey, the author falls in with a poor warrior-beggar, an 
adaptation of Sterne's Chevalier de St. Louis, 3 and he puts in 

1 Breslau, 1792. It is included in Baker's list. 

2 Frankfurt and Leipzig, pp. 208. Baker regards these two editions as two dif- 
ferent works. 

3 Sentimental Journey, pp. 87-88. 
9 



130 

verse Yorick's expressed sentiment that the king and the 
fatherland should not allow the faithful soldier to fall into such 
distress. 

Bock's next sentimental adventure is with a fair peasant- 
maid whom he sees weeping by the wayside. Through 
Yorick-like insistence of sympathy, he finally wins from her 
information concerning the tender situation: a stern step- 
father, an unwelcome suitor of his choosing, and a lover of 
her own. Her inability to write and thus communicate with 
the latter is the immediate cause of the present overflow. The 
traveler beholds in this predicament a remarkable sentimental 
opportunity and offers his services ; he strokes her cheek, her 
tears are dried, and they part like brother and sister. The 
episode is unquestionably inspired by the episode of Maria of 
Aloulines ; in the latter development of the affair, the senti- 
ment, which is expressed, that the girl's innocence is her own 
defense is borrowed directly from Yorick's statement concern- 
ing the iille de chambre. 1 The traveler's questioning of his 
own motives in "Die Ueberlegung" 2 is distinctly Sterne-like, 
and it demonstrates also Bock's appreciation of this quizzical 
element in Yorick's attitude toward his own sentimental be- 
havior. The relation of man to the domestic animals is treated 
sentimentally in the episode of the old beggar and his dead 
dog: 3 the tears of the beggar, his affection for the beast, their 
genuine comradeship, and the dog's devotion after the world 
had forsaken his master, are all part and parcel of that fan- 
tastic humane movement which has its source in Yorick's 
dead ass. Bock practically confesses his inspiration by direct 
allusion to the episode in Yorick. Bock defends with warmth 
the old peasant and his grief. 

The wanderer's acquaintance with the lady's companion 4 is 
adapted from Yorick's fillc de chambre connection, and Bock 
cannot avoid a fleshly suggestion, distinctly in the style of 
Yorick in the section, the ''Spider." 5 The return journey in 

1 Sentimental Journey, p. 73. 

2 Pp- 4S-SO. 

3 Pp. 106-1 10. 

* Die Gesellschafterin, pp. 131-144. 
'° Pp- I45-I55- 



131 

the sentimental moonlight affords the author another oppor- 
tunity for the exercise of his broad human sympathy : he meets 
a poor woman, a day-laborer with her child, gives them a few 
coins and doubts whether king or bishop could be more con- 
tent with the benediction of the apostolic chair than he with 
the blessing of this unfortunate, — a sentiment derived from 
Yorick's overcolored veneration for the horn snuff-box. 

The churchyard scene with which the journey ends is more 
openly fanciful, down-right visionary in tone, but the manner 
is very emphatically not that of Sterne, though in the midst 
the Sterne motif of nettle-plucking is introduced. This senti- 
mental episode took hold of German imagination with peculiar 
force. The hobby-horse idea also was sure of its appeal, and 
Bock did not fail to fall under its spell. 1 

But apart from the general impulse and borrowing of motif 
from the foreign novel, there is in this little volume consider- 
able that is genuine and original : the author's German patriot- 
ism, his praise of the old days in the Fatherland in the chapter 
entitled "Die Gaststube," his "Trinklied eines Deutschen," his 
disquisition on the position of the poet in the world ("ein 
eignes Kapitel"), and his adulation of Gellert at the latter's 
grave. The reviewer in the Deutsche Bibliothek der schonen 
Wissenschaften 2 chides the unnamed, youthful author for not 
allowing his undeniable talents to ripen to maturity, for being 
led on by Jacobi's success to hasten his exercises into print. 
In reality Bock was no longer youthful (forty-six) when the 
"Tagereise" was published. The Almanack der deutschen 
Musen for 1771, calls the book "an unsuccessful imitation of 
Yorick and Jacobi," and wishes that this "Rhapsodie von Cru- 
ditaten" might be the last one thrust on the market as a "Sen- 
timental Journey." The Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek 3 com- 
ments also on the double inspiration, and the insufficiency and 
tiresomeness of the performance. And yet Boie 4 says the 
papers praised the little book ; for himself, however, he ob- 

1 Die Dame, pp. 120-130. 

2 V, St. 2, p. 371. 

3 Anhang to XIII-XXIV, Vol. II, p. 1151. 

4 Letter to Raspe, Gottingen, June 2, 1770, in IVeimarisches Jahrbuch, III, p. 28 



132 

serves, he little desires to read it, and adds "What will our 
Yoricks yet come to? At last they will get pretty insignifi- 
cant, I think, if they keep on this way." 

Bock was also the author of a series of little volumes writ- 
ten in the early seventies, still under the sentimental charm: 
(i) Empfindsame Reise durch die Visitenzimmer am Neu- 
jahrstag von einem deutschen Yorick angestellt, Cosmopolis 
(Hamburg) 1771 — really published at the end of the previous 
year; (2) . . . am Ostertage, 1772; (3) Am Pfingsttage, 1772; 
(4) Am Johannistage, 1773; (5) Am Weynachtstage, 1773. 
These books were issued anonymously, and Schroder's Lexicon 
gives only (2) and (3) under Bock's name, but there seems no 
good reason to doubt his authorship of them all. Indeed, his 
claim to (1) is, according to the Frankfurter Gelehrte An- 
zeigen, well-nigh proven by an allusion to the "Tagereise" in 
the introduction, and by the initials signed. None of them are 
given by Goedeke. The books are evidently only in a general 
way dependent on the Sterne model, and are composed of ob- 
servations upon all sorts of subjects, the first section of each 
volume bearing some relation to the festival in which they ap- 
pear. 

In the second edition of the first volume the author con- 
fesses that the title only is derived from Yorick, 1 and states 
that he was forced to this misuse because no one at that time 
cared to read anything but "Empfindsame Reisen." It is also 
to be noted that the description beneath the title, "von einem 
deutschen Yorick angestellt," is omitted after the first volume. 
The review of (4) and (5) in the Altonaer Reichs-Post- 
reuter finds this a commendable resumption of proper hu- 
mility. The observations are evidently loosely strung together 
without the pretense of a narrative, such as "Allgemeines Per- 
spectiv durch alle Visitenzimmer, Empfindsamer Neujahrs- 
wunsch, Empfindsame Berechnung eines Weisen mit sich 
selbst, Empfindsame Entschlusse, Empfindsame Art sein Geld 
gut unterzubringen," etc. 2 An obvious purpose inspires the 
writer, the furthering of morality and virtue ; many of the 

1 Frankfurter Gel. Am., April 27, 1773, pp. 276-8. 

2 Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent, December 31, 1771. 



133 

meditations are distinctly religious. That some of the observa- 
tions had a local significance in Hamburg, together with the 
strong sentimental tendency there, may account for the warm 
reception by the Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspond- 
ent. 1 

Some contemporary critics maintained a kinship between 
Matthias Claudius and Yorick-Sterne, though nothing further 
than a similarity of mental and emotional fibre is suggested. 
No one claimed an influence working from the English master. 
Even as late as 1872, Wilhelm Roseler in his introductory 
poem to a study of "Matthias Claudius und sein Humor" 2 calls 
Asmus, "Deutschland's Yorick," thereby agreeing almost ver- 
bally with the German correspondent of the Deutsches Museum, 
who wrote from London nearly a hundred years before, Sep- 
tember 14, 1778, "Asmus ... is the German Sterne," an as- 
sertion which was denied by a later correspondent, who asserts 
that Claudius's manner is very different from that of Sterne. 3 

August von Kotzebue, as youthful narrator, betrays a de- 
pendence on Sterne in his strange and ingeniously contrived 
tale, "Die Geschichte meines Vaters, oder wie es zuging, dass 
ich gebohren wurde." 4 The influence of Sterne is noticeable 
in the beginning of the story: he commences with a circum- 
stantial account of his grandfather and grandmother, and 
the circumstances of his father's birth. The grandfather 
is an original undoubtedly modeled on lines suggested by 
Sterne's hobby-horse idea. He had been chosen in days gone by 
to greet the reigning prince on the latter's return from a jour- 
ney, and the old man harks back to this circumstance with 
"hobby-horsical" persistence, whatever the subject of conver- 

1 Other reviews are (2) and (3), Frankfurter gel. Anz., November 27, 1772; 
(2) and (3), Allg. deutsche Bibl., XIX, 2, p. 579 (Musaus) and XXIV, 1, p. 287; 
of the series, Neue Critische Nachrichten (Greifswald), IX, p. 152. There is a 
rather full nalysis of (1) in Frankfurter Gel. Am., 1773, pp. 276-8, April 27. Ac- 
cording to Wittenberg in the Altonaer Reichs-Postreuter (June 21, 1773), Holfrath 
Deinet was the author of this review. A sentimental episode from these "Journeys" 
was made the subject of a play called "Der Greis" and produced at Munich in 
1774- (See Allg. deutsche Bibl., XXXII, 2, p. 466). 

2 Berlin, 1873. 

3 Deutsches Museum, VI, p. 384, and VII, p. 220. 

* Reval und Leipzig, 1788, 2d edition, 1792, and published in "Kleine gesammelte 
Schriften," Reval und Leipzig, 1789, Vol. Ill, pp. 131-292. Reviewed in Allg. Lift.- 
Zextung, 1789, II, p. 736. 



134 

sation, even as all matters led Uncle Toby to military fortifi- 
cation, and the elder Shandy to one of his pet theories. 

In Schrimps the servant, another Shandean original is de- 
signed. When the news comes of the birth of a son on Mount 
Vesuvius, master and man discuss mutifarious and irrelevant 
topics in a fashion reminiscent of the conversation downstairs 
in the Shandy mansion while similar events are going on 
above. Later in the book we have long lists, or catalogues of 
things which resemble one of Sterne's favorite mannerisms. 
But the greater part of the wild, adventurous tale is far re- 
moved from its inception, which presented domestic whimsi- 
cality in a gallery of originals, unmistakably connected with 
Tristram Shandy. 

Goschen's "Reise von Johann" 1 is a product of the late rena- 
scence of sentimental journeying. Master and servant are 
represented in this book as traveling through southern Ger- 
many, a pair as closely related in head and heart as Yorick 
and La Fleur, or Captain Shandy and Corporal Trim. The 
style is of rather forced buoyancy and sprightliness, with in- 
tentional inconsequence and confusion, an attempt at humor 
of narration, which is choked by characteristic national de- 
sire to convey information, and a fatal propensity to descrip- 
tion of places, 2 even when some satirical purpose underlies the 
account, as in the description of Erlangen and its university. 
The servant Johann has mild adventures with the maids in the 
various inns, which are reminiscent of Yorick, and in one case it 
borders on the openly suggestive and more Shandean method. 3 
A distinctly borrowed motif is the accidental finding of papers 
which contain matters of interest. This is twice resorted to ; a 
former occupant of the room in the inn in Nurnberg had left 
valuable notes of travel; and Johann, meeting a ragged 
woman, bent on self-destruction, takes from her a box with 
papers, disclosing a revolting story, baldly told. German 
mediocrity, imitating Yorick in this regard, and failing of his 
delicacy and subtlety, brought forth hideous offspring. An 

1 Leipzig, 1793, pp. 224, 8°, by Georg Joachim Goschen. 

2 See the account of Ulm, and of Lindau near the end of the volume. 

3 See pp. 21-22 and 105. 



135 

attempt at whimsicality of style is apparent in the "Furth 
Catechismus in Frage und Antwort" (pp. 71-74), and gen- 
uinely sentimental adventures are supplied by the death-bed 
scene (pp. 70-71) and the village funeral (pp. 74-77). 

This book is classed by Ebeling 1 without sufficient reason as 
an imitation of von Thummel. This statement is probably de- 
rived from the letter from Schiller to Goethe to which Ebeling 
refers in the following lines. Schiller is writing to Goethe con- 
cerning plans for the Xenien, December 29, 1795. 2 The 
abundance of material for the Xenien project is commented 
upon with enthusiastic anticipation, and in a list of vulnerable 
possibilities we read : "Thummel, Goschen als sein Stall- 
meister — " a collocation of names easily attributable, in consid- 
eration of the underlying satiric purpose, to the general nature 
of their work, without in any way implying the dependence of 
one author on another, 3 or it could be interpreted as an al- 
lusion to the fact that Goschen was von Thummel's publisher. 
Nor is there anything in the correspondence to justify Ebe- 
ling's harshness in saying concerning this volume of Goschen, 
that it "enjoyed the honor of being ridiculed (verhohnt) in 
the Xenien-correspondence between Goethe and Schiller." 
Goethe replies (December 30), in approval, and exlaims, "How 
fine Charis and Johann will appear beside one another." 4 
The suggestion concerning a possible use of Goschen's book in 
the Xenien was never carried out. 

It will be remembered that Goschen submitted the manu- 
script of his book to Schiller, and that Schiller returned the 
same with the statement "that he had laughed heartily at some 
of the whims. 5 Garve, in a letter dated March 8, 1875, speaks of 
Goschen's book in terms of moderate praise. 6 

1 "Geschichte der komischen Literatur," III, p. 625. 

2 See "Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Schiller," edited by Boxberger. Stutt- 
gart, Spemann, Vol. I, p. 118. 

3 It is to be noted also that von Thummel's first servant bears the name Johann. 

4 "Charis oder iiber das Schone und die Schonheit in den bildenden Kiinsten" 
by Ramdohr, Leipzig, 1793. 

B "Schiller's Briefe," edited by Fritz Jonas, III, pp. 316, 319. Letters of June 6 
and June 23 (?), 1793. 

6 "Briefe von Christian Garve an Chr. Felix Weisse. und einige andern Freunde," 
Breslau, 1803, p. 189-190. The book was reviewed favorably by the Allg. Litt. 
Zeitung, 1794, IV, p. 513. 



136 

The "Empfindsame Reise von Oldenburg nach Bremen," 1 the 
author of which was a Hanoverian army officer, H. J. C. 
Hedemann, is characterized by Ebeling as emphatically not 
inspired by Sterne. 2 Although it is not a sentimental journey, 
as Schummel and Jacobi and Bock conceived it, and is thus not 
an example of the earliest period of imitation, and although it 
contains no passages of teary sentimentality in attitude toward 
man and beast, one must hesitate in denying all connection 
with Sterne's manner. It would seem as if, having outgrown 
the earlier Yorick, awakened from dubious, fine-spun dreams 
of human brotherhood, perhaps by the rude clatter of the 
French revolution, certain would-be men of letters turned to 
Yorick again and saw, as through a glass darkly, that other 
element of his nature, and tried in lumbering, Teutonic way to 
adopt his whimsicality, shorn now of sentimentalism, and to 
build success for their wares on remembrance of a defaced 
idol. This view of later sentimental journeying is practically 
acknowledged at any rate in a contemporary review, the All- 
gemeine Litteratur-Zeihing for August 22, 1796, which re- 
marks : "A sentimental voyage ist ein Quodlibet, wo einige 
bekannte Sachen und Namen gezwungenen Wiz und matten 
Scherz heben sollen." 3 

Hedemann's book is conspicuous in its effort to be whimsical 
and is openly satirical in regard to the sentimentalism of for- 
mer travelers. His endeavor is markedly in Sterne's manner 
in his attitude toward the writing of the book, his conversa- 
tion about the difficulty of managing the material, his discus- 
sion with himself and the reader about the various parts of the 
book. Quite in Sterne's fashion, and to be associated with 
Sterne's frequent promises of chapters, and statements con- 
cerning embarrassment of material, is conceived his determina- 
tion "to mention some things beforehand about which I don't 
know anything to say," and his rather humorous enumeration 

1 Falkenburg, 1796, pp. no. Goedeke gives Bremen as place of publication. 

2 Ebeling, III, p. 625, gives Hademann as auther, and Fallenburg — both prob- 
ably misprints. 

3 The review is of "Auch Vetter Heinrich hat Launen, von G. L. B., Frankfurt- 
am-Main, 1796" — a book evidently called into being by a translation of selections 
from "Les Lunes du Cousin Jacques." Jiinger was the translator. The original 
is the work of Beffroy de Regny. 



137 

of them. The author satirizes the real sentimental traveler of 
Sterne's earlier imitators in the following passage (second 
chapter) : 

"It really must be a great misfortune, an exceedingly vex- 
atious case, if no sentimental scenes occur to a sentimental 
traveler, but this is surely not the case; only the subjects, 
which offer themselves must be managed with strict economy. 
If one leaps over the most interesting events entirely, one is in 
danger, indeed, of losing everything, at least of not filling many 
pages." 

Likewise in the following account of a sentimental ad- 
venture, the satirical purpose is evident. He has not gone far 
on his journey when he is met by a troop of children ; with un- 
sentimental coldness he determines that there is a "Schlag- 
baum" in the way. After the children have opened the bar- 
rier, he debates with himself to which child to give his little 
coin, concludes, as a "sentimental traveler," to give it to the 
other sex, then there is nothing left to do but to follow his in- 
stinct. He reflects long with himself whether he was right in 
so doing, — all of which is a deliberate jest at the hesitation 
with reference to trivial acts, the self-examination with regard 
to the minutiae of past conduct, which was copied by Sterne's 
imitators from numerous instances in the works of Yorick. 
Satirical also is his vision in Chapter VII, in which he beholds 
the temple of stupidity where lofty stupidity sits on a paper 
throne ; and of particular significance here is the explanation 
that the whole company who do "erhabene Dummheit" honor 
formerly lived in cities of the kingdom, but "now they are on 
journeys." Further examples of a humorous manner akin to 
Sterne are: his statement that it would be a "great error" to 
write an account of a journey without weaving in an anecdote 
of a prince, his claim that he has fulfilled all duties of such a 
traveler save to fall in love, his resolve to accomplish it, and 
his formal declaration : "I, the undersigned, do vow and make 
promise to be in love before twenty-four hours are past." 
The story with which his volume closes, "Das Standchen," is 
rather entertaining and is told graphically, easily, without 



138 

whim or satire, yet not without a Sternian double entendre. 1 

Another work in which sentimentalism has dwindled away to 
a grinning shade, and a certain irresponsible, light-hearted at- 
titude is the sole remaining connection with the great progen- 
itor, is probably the "Empfindsame Reise nach Schilda" (Leip- 
zig, 1793), by Andreas Geo. Fr. von Rabenau, which is 
reviewed in the Allgemeine Litter atur-Zeitung (17^, I, p. 
416) as a free revision of an old popular tale, "Das lustige 
und lacherliche Lalenburg." The book is evidently with- 
out sentimental tinge, is a merry combination of wit and joke 
combined with caricature and half-serious tilting against un- 
important literary celebrities. 2 

Certain miscellaneous works, which are more or less ob- 
viously connected with Sterne may be grouped together here. 

To the first outburst of Sterne enthusiasm belongs an anon- 
ymous product, "Zween Tage eines Schwindsiichtigen, etwas 
Empfindsames," von L. . . . (Hamburg, 1772), yet the editor 
admits that the sentiment is "not entirely like Yorick's," and the 
Altonaer Reichs-Postreuter (July 2, 1772) adds that "not at all 
like Yorick's" would have been nearer the truth. This book 
is mentioned by Hillebrand with implication that it is the ex- 
treme example of the absurd sentimental tendency, probably 
judging merely from the title, 3 for the book is doubtless merely 
thoughtful, contemplative, with a minimum of overwrought 
feeling. 

According to the Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen (1775, pp. 
592-3), another product of the earlier seventies, the "Leben 
und Schicksale des Martin Dickius," by Johann Moritz 
Schwager, is in many places a clever imitation of Sterne, 4 
although the author claims, like Wezel in "Tobias Knaut," not 
to have read Shandy until after the book was written. Surely 

1 Hedemann's book is reviewed indifferently in the Allg. Litt. Zeitung. (Jena, 
1798, I, p. 173-) 

2 Von Rabenau wrote also "Hans Kiekindiewelts Reise" (Leipzig, 1794), which 
Ebeling (III, p. 623) condemns as "the most commonplace imitation of the most 
ordinary kind of the comic." 

3 It is also reviewed by Musaus in the Allg. deutsche Bibl., XIX, 2, p. 579. 

* The same opinion is expressed in the Jenaische Zeitungcn von Gelehrten Sachen, 
1776, p. 465. See also Schwinger's study of "Sebaldus Nothanker," pp. 248-251; 
Ebeling, p. 584; Allg. deutsche Bibl., XXXII, 1, p. 141. 



139 

the digression on noses which the author allows himself is sus- 
picious. 

Blankenburg, the author of the treatise on the novel to which 
reference has been made, was regarded by contemporary and 
subsequent criticism as an imitator of Sterne in his oddly titled 
novel "Beytrage zur Geschichte des teutschen Reiches und 
teutscher Sitten," 1 although the general tenor of his essay, in 
reasonableness and balance, seemed to promise a more inde- 
pendent, a more competent and felicitous performance. Kurz 
expresses this opinion, which may have been derived from 
criticisms in the eighteenth century journals. The Frankfurter 
Gelehrte Anzeigcn, July 28, 1775, does not, however, take this 
view ; but seems to be in the novel a genuine exemplification 
of the author's theories as previously expressed. 2 The Allge- 
meine deutsche Bibliothek 3 calls the book didactic, a tract 
against certain essentially German follies. Merck, in the 
Teutscher Merkur, 4 says the imitation of Sterne is quite too 
obvious, though Blankenburg denies it. 

Among miscellaneous and anonymous works inspired di- 
rectly by Sterne, belongs undoubtedly "Die Geschichte meiner 
Reise nach Pirmont" (1773), the author of which claims that 
it was written before Yorick was translated or Jacobi pub- 
lished. He says he is not worthy to pack Yorick's bag or 
weave Jacobi's arbor, 5 but the review of the Almanack der 
deutschen Musen evidently regards it as a product, neverthe- 
less, of Yorick's impulse. Kuno Ridderhoff in his study of 
Frau la Roche 6 says that the "Empfindsamkeit" of Rosalie in 
the first part of "Rosaliens Briefe" is derived from Yorick. 
The "Leben, Thaten und Meynungen des D. J. Pet. Menadie" 
(Halle, 1777-1781) is charged by the Allgemeine deutsche 
Bibliothek with attempt at Shandy-like eccentricity of narra- 
tive and love of digression. 7 

1 Leipzig and Liegnitz, 1775. 

2 The Leipziger Museum Almanack, 1776, pp. 69-70, agrees in this view. 

3 XXIX, 2, p. 507. 
* 1776, I, p. 272. 

6 An allusion to an episode of the "Sommerreise." 

6 "Sophie von la Roche," Gottinger Dissertation, Einbeck, 1895. 

7 Allg. deutsche Bibl., XLVII, 1, p. 435; LII, 1, p. 148, and Anhang, XXIV- 
XXXVI, Vol. II, p. 903-908. 



140 

One little volume, unmistakably produced under Yorick's 
spell, is worthy of particular mention because at its time it 
received from the reviewers a more cordial welcome than was 
accorded to the rank and file of Sentimental Journeys. It is 
"M ... R ..." by E. A. A. von Gochhausen (1740-1824), 
which was published at Eisenach, 1772, and was deemed 
worthy of several later editions. Its dependence on Sterne is 
confessed and obvious, sometimes apologetically and hesitating- 
ly, sometimes defiantly. The imitation of Sterne is strongest at 
the beginning, both in outward form and subject-matter, and 
this measure of indebtedness dwindles away steadily as the 
book advances. Gochhausen, as other imitators, vised at the 
outset a modish form, returned to it consciously now and then 
when once under way, but when he actually had something to 
say, a message of his own, found it impracticable or else forgot 
to follow his model. 

The absurd title stands, of course, for "Meine Reisen" and 
the puerile abbreviation as well as the reasons assigned for it, 
were intended to be a Sterne-like jest, a pitiful one. Why 
Goedeke should suggest "Meine Randglossen" is quite inex- 
plicable, since Gochhausen himself in the very first chapter 
indicates the real title. Beneath the enigmatical title stands 
an alleged quotation from Shandy: "Ein Autor borgt, bettelt 
und stiehlt so stark von dem andern, dass bey meiner Seele ! 
die Originalitat fast so rar geworden ist als die Ehrlichkeit." 1 
The book itself, like Sterne's Journey, is divided into brief 
chapters unnumbered but named. As the author loses 
Yorick from sight, the chapters grow longer. Gochhausen 
has availed himself of an odd device to disarm criticism, — a 
plan used once or twice by Schummel : occasionally when the 
imitation is obvious, he repudiates the charge sarcastically, or 
anticipates with irony the critics' censure. For example, he 
gives directions to his servant Pumper to pack for the journey; 
a reader exclaims, "a portmanteau, Mr. Author, so that 
everything, even to that, shall be just like Yorick," and in the 
following passage the author quarrels with the critics who allow 
no one to travel with a portmanteau, because an English 

1 The quotation is really from the spurious ninth volume in Ziickert's translation. 



141 

clergyman traveled with one. Pumper's misunderstanding of 
this objection is used as a farther ridicule of the critics. When 
on the journey, the author converses with two poor wandering 
monks, whose conversation, at any rate, is a witness to their 
content, the whole being a legacy of the Lorenzo episode, and 
the author entitles the chapter: "The members of the re- 
ligious order, or, as some critics will call it, a wretchedly un- 
successful imitation." In the next chapter, "Der Visitator" 
(pp. 125 ff.) in which the author encounters customs annoy- 
ances, the critic is again allowed to complain that everything 
is stolen from Yorick, a protest which is answered by the 
author quite naively, "Yorick journeyed, ate, drank ; I do too." 
In "Die Pause" the author stands before the inn door and 
fancies that a number of spies (Ausspaher) stand there wait- 
ing for him ; he protests that Yorick encountered beggars be- 
fore the inn in Montreuil, a very different sort of folk. On 
page 253 he exclaims, "fur diesen schreibe ich dieses Kapitel 
nicht und ich — beklage ihn !" Here a footnote suggests "Das 
iibrige des Diebstahls vid. Yorick's Gefangenen." Similarly 
when he calls his servant his "La Fleur," he converses with 
the critics about his theft from Yorick. 

The book is opened by a would-be whimsical note, the guess- 
ing about the name of the book. The dependence upon Sterne, 
suggested by the motto, is clinched by reference to this quota- 
tion in the section "Apologie," and by the following chapter, 
which is entitled "Yorick." The latter is the most unequivocal 
and, withal, the most successful imitation of Yorick's manner 
which the volume offers. The author is sitting on a sofa read- 
ing the Sentimental Journey, and the idea of such a trip is 
awakened in him. Someone knocks and the door is opened 
by the postman, as the narrator is opening his "Lorenzodose," 
and the story of the poor monk is touching his heart now for 
the twentieth time as strongly as ever. The postman asks 
postage on the letter as well as his own trivial fee. The 
author counts over money, miscounts it, then in counting for- 
gets all about it, puts the money away and continues the read- 
ing of Yorick. The postman interrupts him ; the author grows 
impatient and says, "You want four groschen?" and is inex- 



142 

plicably vexed at the honesty of the man who says it is only 
three pfennigs for himself and the four groschen for the post. 
Here is a direct following of the Lorenzo episode ; caprice 
rules his behavior toward an inferior, who is modest in his 
request. After the incident, his spite, his head and his heart 
and his "ich" converse in true Sterne fashion as to the ad- 
visability of his beginning to read Yorick again. He reasons 
with himself concerning his conduct toward the postman, then 
in an apostrophe to Yorick he condemns himself for failing in 
this little test. This conversation occupies so much time that 
he cannot run after the postman, but he resolves that noth- 
ing, not even the fly that lights on his nose, shall bring him so 
far as to forget wherefore his friend J . . . . sent him a "Lo- 
renzodose." And at the end of the section there is a picture 
of the snuff-box with the lid open, disclosing the letters of the 
word "Yorick." The "Lorenzodose" is mentioned later, and 
later still the author calms his indignation by opening the box ; 
he fortifies himself also by a look at the treasure. 1 

Following this picture of the snuff-box is an open letter to 
"My dear J . . . ," who, at the author's request, had sent him 
on June 29th a "Lorenzodose." Jacobi's accompanying words 
are given. The author acknowledges the difficulty with which 
sometimes the self-conquest demanded by allegiance to the sen- 
timental symbol has been won. 

Yet, compared with some other imitations of the good 
Yorick, the volume contains but a moderate amount of lavish 
sentiment. The servant Pumper is a man of feeling, who 
grieves that the horses trod the dewdrops from the blades of 
grass. Cast in the real Yorick mould is the scene in which 
Pumper kills a marmot (Hamster) ; upon his master's expos- 
tulation that God created the little beast also, Pumper is 
touched, wipes the blood off with his cuff and buries the ani- 
mal with tenderness, indulging in a pathetic soliloquy ; the 
whole being a variant of Yorick's ass episode. 

Marked with a similar vein of sentimentality is the narra- 
tor's conduct toward the poor wanderer with his heavy bur- 
den: the author asserts that he has never eaten a roll, put on 

1 For these references to the snuff-box, see pp. 53, 132-3, 303 and 314. 



143 

a white shirt, traveled in a comfortable carriage, or been borne 
by a strong horse, without bemoaning those who were less 
fortunately circumstanced. A similar and truly Sterne-like 
triumph of feeling over convention is the traveler's insistence 
that Pumper shall ride with him inside the coach ; seemingly 
a point derived from Jacobi's failure to be equally democratic. 1 

Sterne's emphasis upon the machinery of his story-telling, 
especially his distraught pretense at logical sequence in the 
ordering of his material is here imitated. For example : near 
the close of a chapter the author summons his servant Pumper, 
but since the chapter bore the title "Der Brief" and the servant 
can neither read nor write a letter, he says the latter has noth- 
ing to do in that chapter, but he is to be introduced in the fol- 
lowing one. Yet with Yorick's inconsequence, the narrator is 
led aside and exclaims at the end of this chapter, "But where 
is Pumper?" with the answer, "Heaven and my readers know, 
it was to no purpose that this chapter was so named (and per- 
haps this is not the last one to which the title will be just as 
appropriate)", and the next chapter pursues the whimsical at- 
tempt, beginning "As to whether Pumper will appear in this 
chapter, about that, dear reader, I am not really sure myself." 

The whimsical, unconventional interposition of the reader, 
and the author's reasoning with him, a Sterne device, is em- 
ployed so constantly in the book as to become a wearying man- 
nerism. Examples have already been cited, additional ones 
are numerous : the fifth section is devoted to such conversation 
with the reader concerning the work; later the reader objects 
to the narrator's drinking coffee without giving a chapter 
about it ; the reader is allowed to express his wonder as to what 
the chapter is going to be because of the author's leap ; the 
reader guesses where the author can be, when he begins to 
describe conditions in the moon. The chapter "Der Einwurf" 
is occupied entirely with the reader's protest, and the last two 
sections are largely the record of fancied conversations with 
various readers concerning the nature of the book ; here the 
author discloses himself. 2 Sterne-like whim is found in the 

1 In "Sommerreise." 

2 Other examples are found pp. 57, go, 255, 270, 209, 312, 390, and elsewhere. 



144 

chapter "Die Nacht," which consists of a single sentence: "Ich 
schenke Ihnen diesen ganzen Zeitraum, denn ich habe ihn 
ruhig verschlafen." Similar Shandean eccentricity is illus- 
trated by the chapter entitled "Der Monolog," which con- 
sists of four lines of clots, and the question, "Didn't you think 
all this too, my readers?" Typographical eccentricity is ob- 
served also in the arrangement of the conversation of the 
ladies A., B., C, D., etc., in the last chapter. Like Sterne, our 
author makes lists of things ; probably inspired by Yorick's 
apostrophe to the "Sensorium" is our traveler's appeal to the 
spring of joy. The description of the fashion of walking ob- 
served in the maid in the moon is reminiscent of a similar pas- 
sage in Schummel's journey. 

Gochhausen's own work, untrammeled by outside influence, 
is considerable, largely a genial satire on critics and philos- 
ophers ; his stay in the moon is a kind of Utopian fancy. 

The literary journals accepted Gochhausen's work as a 
Yorick imitation, condemned it as such apologetically, but 
found much in the book worthy of their praise. 1 

Probably the best known novel which adopts in considerable 
measure the style of Tristram Shandy is Wezel's once famous 
"Tobias Knaut," the "Lebensgeschichte Tobias Knauts des 
Weisen sonst Stammler genannt, aus Familiennachrichten 
gesammelt." 2 In this work the influence of Fielding is felt 
parallel to that of Sterne. The historians of literature all ac- 
cord the book a high place among humorous efforts of the 
period, crediting the author with wit, narrative ability, knowl- 
edge of human nature and full consciousness of plan and pur- 
pose. 3 They unite also in the opinion that "Tobias Knaut" 
places Wezel in the ranks of Sterne imitators, but this can be 
accepted only guardedly, for in part the novel must be re- 
garded as a satire on "Empfindsamkeit" and hence in some 
measure be classified as an opposing force to Sterne's domin- 

1 See Auserlesene Bibliothek der neuesten deutschen Litteratur, VII, p. 399; 
Almanack der deutschen Musen, 1775, p. 75; Magasin der deutschen Critik, III, 1, 
p. 174; Frankfurter Gel. Am., July 1, 1774; Allg. deutsche Bibl., XXVI, 2, 487; 
Tent. Mcrkur, VI, p. 353; Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitungen, 1774, I, p. 17. 

2 Leipzig, 1773-76, 4 vols. "Tobias Knaut" was at first ascribed to Wieland. 

8 Gervinus, V, pp. 225 ff. ; Ebeling, III, p. 568; Hillebrand, II, p. 537; Kurz, III, 
p. 504; Koberstein, IV, pp. 168 f. and V, pp. 94 f. 



145 

ion, especially to the distinctively German Sterne. That this 
impulse, which later became the guiding principle of "Wilhel- 
mine Arend," was already strong in "Tobias Knaut" is hinted 
at by Gervinus, but passed over in silence by other writers. 
Kurz, following Wieland, who reviewed the novel in his 
Merknr, finds that the influence of Sterne was baneful. Other 
contemporary reviews deplored the imitation as obscuring and 
stultifying the undeniable and genuinely original talents of the 
author. 1 

A brief investigation of Wezel's novel will easily demon- 
strate his indebtedness to Sterne. Yet Wezel in his preface, 
anticipating the charge of imitation, asserts that he had not 
read Shandy when "Tobias" was begun. Possibly he intends 
this assertion as a whim, for he quotes Tristram at some 
length. 2 This inconsistency is occasion for censure on the 
part of the reviewers. 

Wezel's story begins, like Shandy, "ab ovo," and, in resem- 
blance to Sterne's masterpiece, the connection between the 
condition of the child before its birth and its subsequent life 
and character is insisted upon. A reference is later made to 
this. The work is episodical and digressive, but in a more 
extensive way than Shandy ; the episodes in Sterne's novel 
are yet part and parcel of the story, infused with the 
personality of the writer, and linked indissolubly to the little 
family of originals whose sayings and doings are immor- 
talized by Sterne. This is not true of Wezel : his episodes 
and digressions are much more purely extraneous in event, 
and nature of interest. The story of the new-found son, which 
fills sixty-four pages, is like a story within a story, for its con- 
nection with the Knaut family is very remote. This very 
story, interpolated as it is, is itself again interrupted by a 
seven-page digression concerning Tyrus, Alexander, Pipin 
and Charlemagne, which the author states is taken from the 
one hundred and twenty-first chapter of his "Lateinische Pneu- 
matologie," — a genuine Sternian pretense, reminding one of the 
"Tristrapaedia." Whimsicality of manner distinctly remin- 

1 The "Magazin der deutschen Critik" denied the imitation altogether. 

2 I, p. 178. 

10 



146 

iscent of Sterne is found in his mock-scientific catalogues or 
lists of things, as in Chapter III, "Deduktionen, Dissertatio- 
nen, x\rgumentationen a priori und a posteriori," and so on ; 
plainly adapted from Sterne's idiosyncrasy of form is the ad- 
vertisement which in large red letters occupies the middle of a 
page in the twenty-first chapter of the second volume, which 
reads as follows : ''Dienst-freundliche Anzeige. Jedermann, 
der an ernsten Gesprachen keinen Gefallen findet, wird freund- 
schaftlich ersucht alle folgende Blatter, deren Inhalt einem 
Gesprache ahnlich sieht, wohlbedachtig zu iiberschlagen, d. h. 
von dieser Anzeige an gerechnet. Darauf denke ich, soil jeder- 
manniglich vom. 22. Absatze fahren konnen, — Cuique Suum." 
The following page is blank : this is closely akin to Sterne's 
vagaries. Like Sterne, he makes promise of chapter-subject. 1 
Similarly dependent on Sterne's example, is the Fragment in 
Chapter VIII, Volume III, which breaks off suddenly under 
the plea that the rest could not be found. Like Sterne, our 
author satirizes detailed description in the excessive account 
of the infinitesimals of personal discomfort after a carouse. 2 
He makes also obscure whimsical allusions, accompanied by 
typograhical eccentricities (I, p. 153). To be connected with 
the story of the Abbess of Andouillets is the humor "Man 
leuterirte, appelirte — irte, — irte, — irte." 

The author's perplexities in managing the composition of 
the book are sketched in a way undoubtedly derived from 
Sterne, — for example, the beginning of Chapter IX in Volume 
III is a lament over the difficulties of chronicling what has 
happened during the preceding learned disquisition. When 
Tobias in anger begins to beat his horse, this is accompanied 
by the sighs of the author, a really audible one being put 
in a footnote, the whole forming a whimsy of narrative 
style for which Sterne must be held responsible. Similar 
to this is the author's statement (Chap. XXV, Vol. II), 
that Lucian, Swift, Pope, Wieland and all the rest could 
not unite the characteristics which had just been predicated of 
Selmann. Like Sterne, Wezel converses with the reader about 

1 1, p. 117. 
2 1, pp. 148 ff. 



147 

the way of telling the story, indulging 1 in a mock-serious line 
of reasoning with meaningless Sternesque dashes. Further con- 
versation with the reader is found at the beginning of Chapter 
III in Volume I, and in Chapter VIII of the first volume, he 
cries, "Wake up, ladies and gentlemen," and continues at some 
length a conversation with these fancied personages about the 
progress of the book. Wezel in a few cases adopted the worst 
feature of Sterne's work and was guilty of bad taste in pre- 
cisely Yorick's style: Tobias's adventure with the so-called 
soldier's wife, after he has run away from home, is a case in 
point, but the following adventure with the two maidens while 
Tobias is bathing in the pool is distinctly suggestive of Field- 
ing. Sterne's indecent suggestion is also followed in the hints 
at the possible occasion of the Original's aversion to women. 
A similar censure could be spoken regarding the adventure in 
the tavern, 2 where the author hesitates on the edge of gross- 
ness. 

Wezel joined other imitators of Yorick in using as a motif 
the accidental interest of lost documents, or papers : here the 
poems of the "Original," left behind in the hotel, played their 
role in the tale. The treatment of the wandering boy by the 
kindly peasant is clearly an imitation of Yorick's famous visit 
in the rural cottage. A parallel to Walter Shandy's theory of 
the dependence of great events on trifles is found in the story 
of the volume of Tacitus, which by chance suggested the 
sleeping potion for Frau v. L., or that Tobias's inability to 
take off his hat with his right hand was influential on the boy's 
future life. This is a reminder of Tristram's obliquity in his 
manner of setting up his top. As in Shandy, there is a dis- 
cussion about the location of the soul. The character of Sel- 
mann is a compound of Yorick and the elder Shandy, with a 
tinge of satiric exaggeration, meant to chastise the thirst for 
"originals" and overwrought sentimentalism. His generosity 
and sensitiveness to human pain is like Yorick. As a boy he 
would empty his purse into the bosom of a poor man ; but his 
daily life was one round of Shandean speculation, largely 

*I. P- 17. 

2 III, pp. 99-104. 



148 

about the relationiships of trivial things : for example, his 
yearly periods of investigating his motives in inviting his neigh- 
bors Herr v. ** and Herr v. *** every July to his home. 

Wezel's satire on the craze for originality is exemplified in 
the account of the "Original" (Chap. XXII, Vol. II), who was 
cold when others were hot, complained of not liking his soup 
because the plate was not full, but who threw the contents of his 
coffee cup at the host because it was filled to the brim, and 
trembled at the approach of a woman. Selmann longs to meet 
such an original. Selmann also thinks he has found an orig- 
inal in the inn-keeper who answers everything with "Nein," 
greatly to his own disadvantage, though it turns out later that 
this was only a device planned by another character to gain ad- 
vantage over Selmann himself. So also, in the third volume, 
Selmann and Tobias ride off in pursuit of a sentimental adven- 
ture, but the latter proves to be merely a jest of the Captain at 
the expense of his sentimental friend. Satire on sentimental- 
ism is further unmistakable in the two maidens, Adelheid and 
Kunigunde, who weep over a dead butterfly, and write a la- 
ment over its demise. In jest, too, it is said that the Captain 
made a "sentimental journey through the stables." The author 
converses with Ermindus, who seems to be a kind of Eugenius, 
a convenient figure for reference, apostrophe, and appeal. The 
novelist makes also, like Sterne, mock-pedantic allusions, once 
indeed making a long citation from a learned Chinese book. 
An expression suggesting Sterne is the oath taken "bey 
den Nachthemden aller Musen," 1 and an intentional inconse- 
quence of narration, giving occasion to conversation regarding 
the author's control of his work, is the sudden passing over of 
the six years which Tobias spent in Selmann's house. 2 

In connection with Wezel's occupation with Sterne and 
Sterne products in Germany, it is interesting to consider his 
poem : "Die unvermuthete Nachbarschaft. Ein Gesprach," 

1 II, P. 44- 

2 For reviews of "Tobias Knaut" see Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitung, April 13, 1774, 
PP- 1935; Magazin dcr dcutschen Critik, III, 1, p. 185 (1774); Frankfurter Gel. Anz., 
April 5, 1774, pp. 228-30; Almanack der deutschen Musen, 1775, p. 75; Leipsiger 
Musen-Almanach, 1776, pp. 68-69; Allg. deutsche Bibl., XXX, 2, pp. 524 ff., by 
Biester; Teut. Merkur, V, pp. 344-5; VII, p. 361-2, 1776, pp. 272-3, by Merck. 



149 

which was the second in a volume of three poems entitled 
"Epistel an die deutschen Dichter," the name of the first poem, 
and published in Leipzig in 1775. This slight work is written 
for the most part in couplets and covers twenty-three pages. 
Wezel represents Doktor Young, the author of the gloomy 
"Night Thoughts" and "Der gute Lacher, — Lorenz Sterne" 
as occupying positions side by side in his book-case. This 
proximity gives rise to a conversation between the two an- 
tipodal British authors : Sterne says : 

"Wir brauchen beide vielen Raum, 
Your Reverence viel zum Handeringen, 
Und meine Wenigkeit, zum Pfeifen, Tanzen, Singen." 
and later, 

. . . "Und will von Herzen gern der Thor der Thoren seyn ; 

Jiingst that ich ernst : gleich hielt die 

Narrheit mich beym Rocke. 

Wo, rief sie, willst du hin, — Du ! weisst du unsern Bund. 

1st das der Dank? Du lachtest dich gesund." 

To Sterne's further enunciation of this joyous theory of life, 
Young naturally replies in characteristic terms, emphasizing 
life's evanescence and joy's certain blight. But Sterne, though 
acknowledging the transitoriness of life's pleasures, denies 
Young's deductions. Yorick's conception of death is quite in 
contrast to Young's picture and one must admit that it has no 
justification in Sterne's writings. On the contrary, Yorick's 
life was one long flight from the grim enemy. The idea of 
death cherished by Asmus in his "Freund Hein," the welcome 
guest, seems rather the conception which Wezel thrusts on 
Sterne. Death comes to Yorick in full dress, a youth, a Mer- 
cury : 

"Er thuts, er kommt zu mir, 'Komm, guter Lorenz, flieh !' 
So ruft er auf mich zu. 'Dein Haus fangt an zu wanken, 
Die Mauern spalten sich; Gewolb und Balken schwanken, 
Was nuzt dir so ein Haus? . . .' " 

so he takes the wreathed cup, drinks joyfully, and follows 
death, embracing him. 

"Das ist mein Tod, ich sehe keinen Knochen, 
Womit du ihn, gleich einem Zahnarzt, schmiickst, 
Geschieht es heute noch, geschieht's in wenig Wochen, 



150 

Dass du, Gevatter Tod, nur meine Hande driickst? 
Ganz nach Bequemlichkeit ! du bist mir zwar willkommen." 

The latter part of the poem contains a rather extended lauda- 
tion of the part played by sympathetic feeling in the con- 
duct of life. 

That there would be those in Germany as in England, who 
saw in Sterne's works only a mine of vulgar suggestion, a re- 
lation sometimes delicate and clever, sometimes bald and ugly, 
of the indelicate and sensual, is a foregone conclusion. Un- 
doubtedly some found in the general approbation which was 
accorded Sterne's books a sanction for forcing upon the public 
the products of their own diseased imaginations. 

This pernicious influence of the English master is exempli- 
fied by Wegener's "Raritaten, ein hinterlassenes Werk des 
Kiisters von Rummelsberg." 1 The first volume is dedicated 
to "Sebaldus Nothanker," and the long document claims for the 
author unusual distinction, in thus foregoing the possibil- 
ity of reward or favor, since he dedicates his book to a ficti- 
tious personage. The idea of the book is to present "merry 
observations" for every day in the year. With the end of the 
fourth volume the author has reached March 17, and, accord- 
ing to the Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothck, the sixth volume in- 
cludes May 22. The present writer was unable to examine the 
last volume to discover whether the year was rounded out in 
this way. 

The author claims to write "neither for surly Catos nor for 
those fond of vulgar jests and smutty books," but for those 
who will laugh. At the close of his preface he confesses the 
source of his inspiration: "In order to inspire myself with 
something of the spirit of a Sterne, I made a decoction out of 
his writings and drank the same eagerly ; indeed I have burned 
the finest passages to powder, and then partaken of it with 
warm English ale, but" — he had the insight and courtesy to 
add — "it helped me just a little as it aids a lame man, if he 
steps in the footprints of one who can walk nimbly." The 
very nature of this author's dependence on Sterne excludes 

1 Berlin, nine parts, 1775-1785. Vol I, pp. 128 (1775); Vol. II, pp. 122; Vol. 
Ill, pp. 141; Vol. IV, pp. 198 (1779); Vols. V and VI, 1780; Vols. I and II were 
published in a new edition in 1778, and Vol. Ill in 1780 (a third edition). 



151 

here any extended analysis of the connection. The style is 
abrupt, full of affected gaiety and raillery, conversational and 
journalistic. The stories, observations and reflections, in 
prose and verse, represent one and all the ribaldry of Sterne 
at its lowest ebb, as illustrated, for example, by the story of 
the abbess of Andouillets, but without the charm and grace 
with which that tale begins. The author copies Sterne in the 
tone of his lucubrations ; the material is drawn from other 
sources. In the first volume, at any rate, his only direct in- 
debtedness to Sterne is the introduction of the Shandean 
theory of noses in the article for January n. The pages also, 
sometimes strewn with stars and dashes, present a somewhat 
Sternesque appearance. 

These volumes are reviewed in the Allgemeine dents che Bib- 
liothek 1 with full appreciation of their pernicious influence, and 
with open acknowledgment that their success demonstrates a 
pervision of taste in the fatherland. The author of the "Lit- 
terarische Reise durch Deutschland" 2 advises his sister, to 
whom his letters are directed, to put her handkerchief before 
her mouth at the very mention of Wegener, and fears that the 
very name has befouled his pen. A similar condemnation is 
meted out in Wieland's Merknr. 3 

A similar commentary on contemporary taste is obtained 
from a somewhat similar collection of stories, "Der Geist der 
Romane im letzten Viertel des i8ten Jahrhunderts," Breslau 
and Hirschberg, 1788, in which the author (S. G. Preisser?) 
claims to follow the spirit of the period and gives six stories 
of revolting sensuality, with a thin whitewash of teary senti- 
mentalism. 

The pursuit of references to Yorick and direct appeals to his 
writings in the German literary world of the century succeed- 
ing the era of his great popularity would be a monstrous and 
fruitless task. Such references in books, letters and period- 

iXXIX, i, p. 186; XXXVI, 2, p. 601; XLIII, 1, p. 301; XLVI, 2, p. 602; LXII, 

1, p. 307. 

2 See p. 8. 

3 1777, II, p. 278, review of Vols. II and III. Vol. I is reviewed in Frankfurter 
Gel. Anz., 1775, p. 719-20 (October 31), and IX in Allg. Litt.-Zeitung, Jena, 1785, 
V, Supplement-Band, p. 80. 



152 

icals multiply beyond possibility of systematic study. One 
might take the works 1 of Friedrich Matthison as a case in 
point. He visits the grave of Musaus, even as Tristram 
Shandy sought for the resting-place of the two lovers in 
Lyons (III, p. 312) ; as he travels in Italy, he remarks that a 
certain visit would have afforded Yorick's "Empfindsamkeit" 
the finest material for an Ash-Wednesday sermon (IV, p. 67). 
Sterne's expressions are cited : "Erdwasserball" for the earth 
(V, p. 57), "Wo keine Pflanze, die da nichts zu suchen hatte, 
eine bleibende State fand" (V, p. 302) ; two farmsteads in the 
Tyrol are designated as "Nach dem Ideal Yoricks" (VI, pp. 
24-25). He refers to the story of the abbess of Andouillets 
(VI, 64) ; he narrates (VIII, pp. 203-4) an anecdote of 
Sterne which has just been printed in the Adress-Comptoir- 
Nachrichtcn (1769, p. 151) ; he visits Prof. Levade in Lau- 
sanne, who bore a striking resemblance to Sterne (V, p. 279), 
and refers to Yorick in other minor regards (VII, 158; VIII, 
PP- 5 l > 77 > an d Brief e II, 76). Yet in spite of this evident 
infatuation, Matthison's account of his own travels cannot be 
classed as an imitation of Yorick, but is purely objective, de- 
scriptive, without search for humor or pathos, with no intro- 
duction of personalities save friends and celebrities. Heinse 
alluded to Sterne frequently in his letters to Gleim (1770- 
1771), 2 but after August 23, 1771, Sterne vanished from his 
fund of allusion, though the correspondence lasts until 1802, a 
fact of significance in dating the German enthusiasm for 
vSterne and the German knowledge of Shandy from the pub- 
lication of the Sentimental Journey, and likewise an indica- 
tion of the insecurity of Yorick's personal hold. 

Miscellaneous allusions to Sterne, illustrating the magnitude 
and duration of his popularity, may not be without interest: 
Kastner "Vermischte Schriften," II, p. 134 (Steckenpferd) ; 
Lenz "Gesammelte Werke," Berlin, 1828, Vol. Ill, p. 312; 
letter from the Duchess Amalie, August 2, 1779, in "Brief e 
an und von Merck," Darmstadt, 1838; letter of Caroline Her- 
der to Knebel, April 2, 1799, in "K. L. von Knebel's Liter- 

1 See p. 89. 

2 Briefe deutscher Gelehrten aus Gleims Nachlass. (Zurich, 1806.) 



153 

arischer Nachlass," Leipzig, 1835, p. 324 (Yorick's "heiliges 
Sensorium") ; a rather unfavorable but apologetic criticism of 
Shandy in the "Hinterlassene Schriften" of Charlotta Sophia 
Sidonia Seidelinn, Niirnberg, 1793, p. 227; ''Schiller's Briefe," 
edited by Fritz Jonas, I, pp. 136, 239; in Hamann's letters, "Le- 
ben und Schriften," edited by Dr. C. H. Gildermeister, Gotha, 
1875, II, p. 338; III, p. 56; V, pp. 16, 163; in C. L. Jiinger's 
"Anlage zu einem Familiengesprach iiber die Physiognomik" 
in Dentsches Museum, II, pp. 781-809, where the French 
barber who proposes to dip Yorick's wig in the sea is taken as a 
type of exaggeration. And a similar reference is found in 
Wieland's Merkur, 1799, I, p. 15 : Yorick's Sensorium is again 
cited, Merkur, 1791, II, p. 95. Other references in the Merkur 
are: 1774, III, p. 52; 1791, I, p. 418; 1800, I, p. 14; 1804, I, pp. 
19-21; Deutsches Museum, IV, pp. 66, 462; Neuer Gelehrter 
Mercurius, Altona, 1773, August 19, in review of Goethe's 
"Gotz ;" Almanack der deutschen Musen, iyyi, p. 93. And thus 
the references scatter themselves down the decades. "Das Wort- 
lein Und," by F. A. Krummacher (Duisberg und Essen, 1811), 
bore a motto taken from the Koran, and contained the story of 
Uncle Toby and the fly with a personal application, and 
Yorick's division of travelers is copied bodily and applied to 
critics. Friedrich Hebbel, probably in 1828, gave his New- 
foundland dog the name of Yorick-Sterne-Monarch. 1 Yorick 
is familiarly mentioned in Wilhelm Raabe's "Chronik der 
Sperlingsgasse" (1857), and in Ernst von Wolzogen's "Der 
Dornenweg," two characters address one another in Yorick 
similes. Indeed, in the summer of 1902, a Berlin newspaper 
was publishing "Eine Empfindsame Reise in einem Automo- 
bile." 2 

Musaus is named as an imitator of Sterne by Koberstein, 

1 Emil Kuh's life of Hebbel, Wien, 1877, I, p. 117-118. 

2 The "Empfindsame Reise der Prinzessin Ananas nach Gros-glogau" (Riez, 1798, 
pp. 68, by Grafin Lichterau?) in its revolting loathesomeness and satirical mean- 
ness is an example of the vulgarity which could parade under the name. In 1801 
we find "Prisen aus der horneren Dose des gesunden Menschenverstandes," a series 
of letters of advice from father to son. A play of Stephanie the younger, "Der 
Eigensinnige," produced January 29, 1774, is said to have connection with Tristram 
Shandy; if so, it would seem to be the sole example of direct adaptation from Sterne 
to the German stage. "Neue Schauspiele." Pressburg and Leipzig, 1771-75, Vol. X. 



154 

and Erich Schmidt implies in his "Richardson, Rousseau und 
Goethe," that he followed Sterne in his "Grandison der 
Zweite," which could hardly be possible, for "Grandison der 
Zweite" was first published in 1760, and was probably written 
during 1759, that is, before Sterne had published Tristram 
Shandy. Adolph von Knigge is also mentioned by Koberstein as 
a follower of Sterne, and Baker includes Knigge's "Reise nach 
Braunschweig" and "Briefe auf einer Reise aus Lothringen" 
in his list. Their connection with Sterne cannot be designated 
as other than remote; the former is a merry vagabond story, 
reminding one much more of the tavern and way-faring ad- 
ventures in Fielding and Smollett, and suggesting Sterne only 
in the constant conversation with the reader about the progress 
of the book and the mechanism of its construction. One ex- 
ample of the hobby-horse idea in this narration may perhaps 
be traced to Sterne. The "Briefe auf einer Reise aus Lothrin- 
gen" has even less connection ; it shares only in the increase 
of interest in personal accounts of travel. Knigge's novels, 
"Peter Claus" and "Der Roman meines Lebens," are decidedly 
not imitations of Sterne ; a clue to the character of the former 
may be obtained from the fact that it was translated into Eng- 
lish as "The German Gil Bias." "Der Roman meines Lebens" 
is a typical eighteenth century love-story written in letters, 
with numerous characters, various intrigues and unexpected 
adventures ; indeed, a part of the plot, involving the abduction 
of one of the characters, reminds one of "Clarissa Harlowe." 
Sterne is, however, incidentally mentioned in both books, is 
quoted in "Peter Claus" (Chapter VI, Vol. II), and Walter 
Shandy's theory of Christian names is cited in "Der Roman 
meines Lebens." 1 That Knigge had no sympathy with exag- 
gerated sentimentalism is seen in a passage in his "Umgang mit 
Menschen." 2 Knigge admired and appreciated the real Sterne 
and speaks in his "Ueber Schriftsteller und Schriftstellerei" 3 
of Yorick's sharpening observation regarding the little but yet 
important traits of character. 

1 P. 185, edition of 1805. 

2 See below p. 166-7. 

3 Hannover, 1792, pp. 80, 263. 



155 

Moritz August von Thiimmel in his famous "Reise in die 
mittaglichen Provinzen von Frankreich" adopted Sterne's gen- 
eral idea of sentimental journeying, shorn largely of the ca- 
priciousness and whimsicality which marked Sterne's pilgrim- 
age. He followed Sterne also in driving the sensuous to the 
borderland of the sensual. 

Hippel's novels, "Lebenslaufe nach aufsteigender Linie" and 
"Kreuz und Querziige des Ritters A. bis Z." were purely Shan- 
dean products in which a humor unmistakably imitated from 
Sterne struggles rather unsuccessfully with pedagogical 
seriousness. Jean Paul was undoubtedly indebted to Sterne 
for a part of his literary equipment, and his works afford proof 
both of his occupation with Sterne's writings and its effect 
upon his own. A study of Hippel's "Lebenslaufe" in con- 
nection with both Sterne and Jean Paul was suggested but a 
few years after Hippel's death by a reviewer in the Neue 
Bibliothek der schonen Wissenschaften 1 as a fruitful topic for 
investigation. A detailed, minute study of von Thiimmel, 
Hippel and Jean Paul 2 in connection with the English master 
is purposed as a continuation of the present essay. Heine's 
pictures of travel, too, have something of Sterne in them. 

1 LXVI, p. 79, 1801. 

3 Sometime after the completion of this present essay there was published in 
Berlin, a study of "Sterne, Hippel and Jean Paul," by J. Czerny( 1904). I have 
not yet had an opportunity to examine it. 



CHAPTER VII 

OPPOSITION TO STERNE AND HIS TYPE OF SEN- 
TIMENTALISM 

Sterne's influence in Germany lived its own life, and grad- 
ually and imperceptibly died out of letters, as an actuating 
principle. Yet its dominion was not achieved without some 
measure of opposition. The sweeping condemnation which 
the soberer critics heaped upon the incapacities of his imitators 
has been exemplified in the accounts already given of Schum- 
mel, Bock and others. It would be interesting to follow a 
little more closely this current of antagonism. The tone of 
protest was largely directed, the edge of satire was chiefly 
whetted, against the misunderstanding adaptation of Yorick's 
ways of thinking and writing, and only here and there were 
voices raised to detract in any way from the genius of Sterne. 
He never suffered in Germany such an eclipse of fame as was 
his fate in England. He was to the end of the chapter a rec- 
ognized prophet, an uplifter and leader. The far-seeing, clear- 
minded critics, as Lessing, Goethe and Herder, expressed 
themsleves quite unequivocally in this regard, and there was 
later no withdrawal of former appreciation. Indeed, Goethe's 
significant words already quoted came from the last years of 
his life, when the new century had learned to smile almost in- 
credulously at the relation of a bygone folly. 

In the very heyday of Sterne's popularity, 1772, a critic of 
Wieland's "Diogenes" in the Auserlesene Bibliothek der neue- 
sten deutschen Litteratar 1 bewails Wieland's imitation of 
Yorick, whom the critic deems a far inferior writer, "Sterne, 
whose works will disappear, while Wieland's masterpieces 
are still the pleasure of latest posterity" This review of 
"Diogenes" is, perhaps, rather more an exaggerated 

1 I, p. 103, Lemgo. 

156 



157 

compliment to Wieland than a studied blow at Sterne, 
and this thought is recognized by the reviewer in the 
Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen, 1 who designates the com- 
pliment as "dubious" and "insulting," especially in view 
of Wieland's own personal esteem for Sterne. Yet these 
words, even as a relative depreciation of Sterne during the 
period of his most universal popularity, are not insignificant. 
Heinrich Leopold Wagner, a tutor at Saarbrucken, in 1770, 
records that one member of a reading club which he had 
founded "regarded his taste as insulted because I sent him 
"Yorick's Empfindsame Reise." 2 But Wagner regarded this 
instance as a proof of Saarbrucken ignorance, stupidity and 
lack of taste ; hence the incident is but a wavering testimony 
when one seeks to determine the amount and nature of opposi- 
tion to Yorick. 

We find another derogatory fling at Sterne himself and a 
regret at the extent of his influence in an anonymous book en- 
titled "Betrachtungen fiber die englischen Dichter," 3 published 
at the end of the great Yorick decade. The author compares 
Sterne most unfavorably with Addison : "If the humor of the 
Spectator and Tatter be set off against the digressive whimsi- 
cality of Sterne," he says, "it is, as if one of the Graces stood 
beside a Bacchante. And yet the pampered taste of the pres- 
ent day takes more pleasure in a Yorick than in an Addison." 
But a reviewer in the Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek* dis- 
counts this author's criticisms of men of established fame, such 
as Shakespeare, Swift, Yorick, and suggests youth, or brief 
acquaintance with English literature, as occasion for his in- 
adequate judgments. Indeed, Yorick disciples were quick to 
resent any shadow cast upon his name. Thus the remark in 
a letter printed in the Deutsches Museum that Asmus was the 
German Yorick "only a better moral character," called forth 
a long article in the same periodical for September, 1779, by 

1 1772, July 7. 

2 See Erich Schmidt's "Heinrich Leopold Wagner, Goethe's Jugendgenosse," zd 
edition, Jena, 1879, p. 82. 

3 Berlin, 1779, pp. 86. 
4 XLIV, 1, p. 105. 



158 

L. H. N., 1 vigorously defending Sterne as a man and a writer. 
The greatness of his human heart and the breadth and depth 
of his sympathies are given as the unanswerable proofs of his 
moral worth. This defense is vehemently seconded in the 
same magazine by Joseph von Retzer. 

The one great opponent of the whole sentimental tendency, 
whose censure of Sterne's disciples involved also a denunci- 
ation of the master himself, was the Gottingen professor, 
Georg Christopher Lichtenberg." 2 In his inner nature 
Lichtenberg had much in common with Sterne and Sterne's 
imitators in Germany, with the whole ecstatic, eccentric 
movement of the time. Julian Schmidt 3 says : "So much 
is sure, at any rate, that the greatest adversary of the new 
literature was of one flesh and blood with it." 4 But his period 
of residence in England shortly after Sterne's death and his 
association then and afterwards with Englishmen of eminence 
render his attitude toward Sterne in large measure an 
English one, and make an idealization either of the man or 
of his work impossible for him. 

The contradiction between the greatness of heart evinced in 
Sterne's novels and the narrow selfishness of the author him- 
self is repeatedly noted by Lichtenberg. His knowledge of 
Sterne's character was derived from acquaintance with many 
of Yorick's intimate friends in London. In "Beobachtungen 
uber den Menschen," he says : "I can't help smiling when the 
good souls who read Sterne with tears of rapture in their eyes 
fancy that he is mirroring himself in his book. Sterne's 
simplicity, his warm heart, over-flowing with feeling, his soul, 
sympathizing with everything good and noble, and all the other 

1 Probably Ludwig Heinrich von Nicolay, the poet and fable-writer (1727-1820). 
The references to the Deutsches Museum are respectively VI, p. 384; VIII, pp. 220- 
235; X, pp. 464 ff. 

2 "Georg Christoph Lichtenberg's Vermischte Schriften," edited by Ludwig 
Christian Lichtenberg and Friedrich Kries, new edition, Gottingen, 1844-46, 8 vols. 

8 "Geschichte des geistigen Lebens in Deutschland," Leipzig, 1862, II, p. 585. 

4 See also Gervinus, "Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung," 5th edition, 1874, V. 
p. 194. "Ein Original selbst und mehr als irgend einer befahigt die humoristischen 
Romane auf deutschen Boden zu verpflanzen." Gervinus says also (V, p. 221) 
that the underlying thought of Musaus in his "Physiognomische Reisen" would, if 
handled by Lichtenberg, have made the most fruitful stuff for a humorous novel 
in Sterne's style. 



159 

expressions, whatever they may be ; and the sigh 'Alas, poor 
Yorick,' which expresses everything at once — have become 
proverbial among us Germans. . . . Yorick was a crawling 
parasite, a flatterer of the great, an unendurable burr on the 
clothing of those upon whom he had determined to sponge!" 1 

In "Timorus" he calls Sterne "ein scandalum Ecclesiae" ; 2 
he doubts the reality of Sterne's nobler emotions and con- 
demns him as a clever juggler with words, who by artful ma- 
nipulation of certain devices aroused in us sympathy, and he 
snatches away the mask of loving, hearty sympathy and dis- 
closes the grinning mountebank. With keen insight into 
Sterne's mind and method, he lays down a law by which, he 
says, it is always possible to discover whether the author of a 
touching passage has really been moved himself, or has merely 
with astute knowledge of the human heart drawn our tears 
by a sly choice of touching features. 3 

Akin to this is the following passage in which the author is 
unquestionably thinking of Sterne, although he does not men- 
tion him : "A heart ever full of kindly feeling is the greatest 
gift which Heaven can bestow ; on the other hand, the itching 
to keep scribbling about it, and to fancy oneself great in this 
scribbling is one of the greatest punishments which can be in- 
flicted upon one who writes." 4 He exposes the heartlessness 
of Sterne's pretended sympathy : "A three groschen piece is 
ever better than a tear," 5 and "sympathy is a poor kind of 
alms-giving," G are obviously thoughts suggested by Yorick's 
sentimentalism. 7 

The folly of the "Lorenzodosen" is several times mentioned 

1 1, p. 184 f. 

2 in, p. 112. 

3 II, 11-12: "Im ersten Fall wird er nie, nach dem die Stelle voriiber ist, seinen 
Sieg plotzlich aufgeben. So wie bei ihm sich die Leidenschaft kiihlt, kiihlt sie sich 
auch bei uns und er bringt uns ab, ohne dass wir es wissen. Hingegen im letztern 
Fall nimmt er sich selten die Miihe, sich seines Sieges zu bedienen, sondern wirft 
den Leser oft mehr zur Bewunderung seiner Kunst, als seines Herzens in eine 
andere Art von Verfassung hinein, die ihn selbst nichts kostet als Witz, den Leser 
fast ran alles bringt, was er vorher gewonnen hatte." 

4 V, 95. 

5 I, P- 136. 

6 I, p. 151- 

7 See also I, p. 139. 



160 

with open or covert ridicule 1 and the imitators of Sterne are 
repeatedly told the fruitlessness of their endeavor and the ab- 
surdity of their accomplishment. 2 His "Vorschlag zu einem 
Orbis Pictus fur deutsche dramatische Schriftsteller, Romanen- 
dichter und Schauspieler" 3 is a satire on the lack of originality 
among those who boasted of it, and sought to win attention 
through pure eccentricities. 

The Fragments 4 are concerned, as the editors say, with an 
evil of the literature in those days, the period of the Sentimen- 
talists and the "Kraftgenies." Among the seven fragments may 
be noted : ''Lorenzo Eschenheimers empfindsame Reise nach 
Laputa," a clever satirical sketch in the manner of Swift, bit- 
terly castigating that of which the English people claim to be 
the discoverers (sentimental journeying) and the Germans 
think themselves the improvers. In "Bittschrift der Wahnsin- 
nigen" and "Parakletor" the unwholesome literary tendencies 
of the age are further satirized. His brief essay, "Ueber die 
Vornamen," 5 is confessedly suggested by Sterne and the sketch 
"Dass du auf dem Blockberg warst," 6 with its mention of the 
green book entitled "Echte deutsche Fluche und Verwiin- 
schungen fur alle Stande," is manifestly to be connected in its 
genesis with Sterne's famous collection of oaths. 7 Lichten- 
berg's comparison of Sterne and Fielding is familiar and sig- 
nificant. 8 "Aus Lichtenbergs Nachlass : Aufsatze, Gedichte 
Tagebuchblatter, Briefe," edited by Albert Leitzmann, 9 con- 
tains additional mention of Sterne. 

The name of Helfreich Peter Sturz may well be coupled 
with that of Lichtenberg, as an opponent of the Sterne cult and 

1 II, p. 209; III, p. 11; VII, p. 133. 

2 I, p. 136; II, pp. 13, 39, 209; 165, "Die Nachahmer Sterne's sind gleichsam 
die Pajazzi desselben." 

3 In Gottingisches Magasin, 1780, Schriften IV, pp. 186-227: "Thoricht affec- 
tirte Sonderbarkeit in dieser Methode wird das Kriterium von Originalitat und das 
sicherste Zeichen, dass man einen Kopf habe, dieses wenn man slch des Tages 
ein Paar Mai darauf stellt. Wenn dieses auch eine Sternisch Kunst ware, so ist 
wohl so viel gewiss, es ist keine der scbwersten." 

4 II, pp. 199-244- 
11 Y, p. 250. 

6 VI, p. J95- 

7 Tristram Shandy, I, pp. 172-180.' 
s II, p. 12. 

■ Weimar, 1899. 



161 

its German distortions, for his information and point of view 
were likewise drawn direct from English sources. Sturz ac- 
companied King Christian VII of Denmark on his journey to 
France and England, which lasted from May 6, 1768, to Jan- 
uary 14, 1769 1 ; hence his stay in England falls in a time but a 
few months after Sterne's death (March 18, 1768), when the 
ungrateful metropolis was yet redolent of the late lion's wit 
and humor. Sturz was an accomplished linguist and a com- 
plete master of English, hence found it easy to associate with 
Englishmen of distinction whom he was privileged to meet 
through the favor of his royal patron. He became acquainted 
with Garrick, who was one of Sterne's intimate friends, and 
from him Sturz learned much of Yorick, especially that more 
wholesome revulsion of feeling against Sterne's obscenities 
and looseness of speech, which set in on English soil as soon 
as the potent personality of the author himself had ceased to 
compel silence and blind opinion. England began to wonder 
at its own infatuation, and, gaining perspective, to view the 
writings of Sterne in a more rational light. Into the first 
spread of this reaction Sturz was introduced, and the estimate 
of Sterne which he carried away with him was undoubtedly 
colored by it. In his second letter written to the Deutsches 
Museum and dated August 24, 1768, but strangely not printed 
till April, 1777, 2 he quotes Garrick with reference to Sterne, a 
notable word of personal censure, coming in the Germany of 
that decade, when Yorick's admirers were most vehement in 
their claims. Garrick called him "a lewd companion, who was 
more loose in his intercourse than in his writings and generally 
drove all ladies away by his obscenities." 3 Sturz adds that all 
his acquaintances asserted that Sterne's moral character went 
through a process of disintegration in London. 

In the Deutsches Museum for July, 1776, Sturz printed a 
poem entitled "Die Mode," in which he treats of the slavery of 

1 These dates are of the departure from and return to Copenhagen; the actual 
time of residence in foreign lands would fall somewhat short of this period. 

2 Deutsches Museum, 1777, p. 449, or Schriften, I, pp. 12-13; "Bibliothek der 
deutschen Klassiker," Vol. VI, p. 652. 

8 English writers who have endeavored to make an estimate of Sterne's char- 
acter have ignored this part of Garrick's opinion, though his statement with ref- 
erence to the degeneration of Sterne's moral nature is frequently quoted. 
11 



162 

fashion and in several stanzas deprecates the influence of 
Yorick. 1 

"Und so schwingt sich, zum Genie erklart, 
Strephon kiihn auf Yorick's Steckenpferd. 
Trabt maandrisch iiber Berg und Auen, 
Reist empfindsam durch sein Dorfgebiet, 
Oder singt die Jugend zu erbauen 
Ganz Gefuhl dem Gartengott ein Lied. 
Gott der Garten, stohnt die Biirgerin, 
Lachle giitig, Rasen und Schasmin 
Haucht Geriiche ! Fliehet Handlungssorgen, 
Dass mein Liebster heute noch in Ruh 
Sein Mark-Einsaz-Lomber spiele — Morgen, 
Schliessen wir die Unglucksbude zu !" 
A passage at the end of the appendix to the twelfth Reisebrief 
is further indication of his opposition to and his contempt for 
the frenzy of German sentimentalism. 

The poems of Goeckingk contain allusions 2 to Sterne, to be 
sure partly indistinctive and insignificant, which, however, 
tend in the main to a ridicule of the Yorick cult and place their 
author ultimately among the satirical opponents of senti- 
mentalism. In the "Epistel an Goldhagen in Petershage," 
1 77 1, he writes : 

"Doch geb ich wohl zu iiberlegen, 
Was fur den Weisen besser sey: 
Die Welt wie Yorick mit zu nehmen? 
Nach Konigen, wie Diogen, 
Sich keinen Fuss breit zu bequemen," — 
a query which suggests the hesitant point of view relative to 
the advantage of Yorick's excess of universal sympathy. In 
"Will auch 'n Genie werden" the poet steps out more unmis- 
takably as an adversary of the movement and as a skeptical 
observer of the exercise of Yorick-like sympathy. 
"Doch, ich Patronus, merkt das wohl, 
Geh, im zerrissnen Kittel, 
Hab' aber alle Taschen voll 

Yorickischer Capittel. 
Doch lass' ich, wenn mir's Kurzweil schaft, 

Die Hulfe fleh'nden Armen 
Durch meinen Schweitzer, Peter Kraft, 
Zerpriigeln ohn' Erbarmen." 

1 Deutsche* Museum, II, pp. 601-604; Schriften, II, pp. 288-291. 

2 Gedichte von L. F. G. Goeckingk, 3 Bde., 1780, 1781, 1782, Leipzig. 



163 

Goeckingk openly satirizes the sentimental cult in the poem 
"Der Empfindsame" 

"Herr Mops, der um das dritte Wort 
Empfindsamkeit im Munde fuhret, 
Und wenn ein Grashalm ihm verdorrt, 
Gleich einen Thranenstrom verlieret — 



Mit meinem Weibchen thut er schier 

Gleich so bekannt wie ein Franzose; 

All' Augenblicke bot er ihr 

Toback aus eines Bettlers Dose 

Mit dem, am Zaun in tiefem Schlaf 

Er einen Tausch wie Yorik traf. 

Der Unempfindsamkeit zum Hohn 

Hielt er auf eine Muck' im Glase 

Beweglich einen Leichsermon, 

Purrt' eine Flieg' ihm an der Nase, 

Macht' er das Fenster auf, und sprach: 

Zieh Oheim Toby's Fliege nach! 

Durch Mops ist warlich meine Magd 

Nicht mehr bey Trost, nicht mehr bey Sinnen 

So sehr hat ihr sein Lob behagt, 

Dass sie empfindsam alien Spinnen 

Zu meinem Hause, frank und frey 

Verstattet ihre Weberey. 

Er trat mein Hundchen auf das Bein, 

Hilf Himmel ! Welch' ein Lamentiren! 

Es hatte mogen einen Stein 

Der Strasse zum Erbarmen riihren, 

Auch wedelt' ihm in einem Nu 

Das Hiindgen schon Vergebung zu. 

Ach ! Hundchen, du beschamst mich sehr, 

Denn dass mir Mops von meinem Leben 

Drey Stunden stahl, wie schwer, wie schwer, 

Wird's halten, (jas ihm zu vergeben? 

Denn Spinnen werden oben ein 

Wohl gar noch meine Morder seyn." 

This poem is a rather successful bit of ridicule cast on the 
over-sentimental who sought to follow Yorick's foot-prints. 

The other allusions to Sterne 1 are concerned with his hobby- 
horse idea, for this seems to gain the poet's approbation and to 
have no share in his censure; 

1 1, pp. 94, n6, 160. 



164 

The dangers of overwrought sentimentality, of heedless sur- 
render to the emotions and reveling in their exercise, — perils 
to whose magnitude Sterne so largely contributed — were 
grasped by saner minds, and energetic protest was entered 
against such degradation of mind and futile expenditure of 
feeling. 

Joachim Heinrich Campe, the pedagogical theorist, pub- 
lished in 1779 1 a brochure, "Ueber Empfindsamkeit und Emp- 
findelei in padagogischer Hinsicht," in which he deprecates the 
tendency of "Empfindsamkeit" to degenerate into "Emp- 
findelei," and explains at some length the deleterious effects of 
an unbridled "Empfindsamkeit" and an unrestrained outpour- 
ing of sympathetic emotions which finds no actual expression, 
no relief in deeds. The substance of this warning essay is re- 
peated, often word for word, but considerably amplified with 
new material, and rendered more convincing by increased 
breadth of outlook and positiveness of assertion, the fruit of 
six years of observation and reflection, as part of a treatise, en- 
titled, "Von der nothigen Sorge fur die Erhaltung des Gleich- 
gewichts unter den menschlichen Kraften : Besondere War- 
ming vor dem Modefehler die Empfindsamkeit zu iiberspan- 
nen." It is in the third volume of the "Allgemeine Revision 
des gesammten Schul- und Erziehungswesens." 2 The differ- 
entiation between "Empfindsamkeit" and "Empfindelei" is 
again and more accessibly repeated in Campe's later work, 
"Ueber die Reinigung und Bereicherung der deutschen 
Sprache." 3 In the second form of this essay (1785) Campe 
speaks of the sentimental fever as an epidemic by no means 
entirely cured. 

His analysis of "Empfindsamkeit" is briefly as follows : 
"Empfindsamkeit ist die Empfanglichkeit zu Empfindnissen, in 
denen etwas Sittliches d. i. Freude oder Schmerz iiber etwas 
sittlich Gutes oder sittlich Boses, ist;" yet in common use the 
term is applied only to a certain high degree of such suscep- 
tibility. This sensitiveness is either in harmony or discord 
with the other powers of the body, especially with the reason : 

1 Hamburg, pp. 44. 

2 Hamburg, Bohn, 1783. 

3 Published in improved and amplified form, Braunschweig, 1794. 



165 

if equilibrium is maintained, this sensitiveness is a fair, worthy, 
beneficent capacity (Fahigkeit) ; if exalted over other forces, 
it becomes to the individual and to society the most de- 
structive and baneful gift which refinement and culture may 
bestow. Campe proposes to limit the use of the word "Emp- 
findsamkeit" to the justly proportioned manifestation of this 
susceptibility; the irrational, exaggerated development he 
would designate "iiberspannte Empfindsamkeit." "Empfinde- 
lei," he says, "ist Empfindsamkeit, die sich auf eine kleinliche 
alberne, vernunftlose und lacherliche Weise, also da aussert, 
wo sie nicht hingehorte." Campe goes yet further in his dis- 
tinctions and invents the monstrous word, "Empfindsamlich- 
keit" for the sentimentality which is superficial, affected, sham 
(geheuchelte). Campe's newly coined word was never ac- 
cepted, and in spite of his own efforts and those of others to 
honor the word "Empfindsamkeit" and restrict it to the com- 
mendable exercise of human sympathy, the opposite process 
was victorious and "Empfindsamkeit," maligned and scorned, 
came to mean almost exclusively, unless distinctly modified, 
both what Campe designates as "iiberspannte Empfindsam- 
keit" and "Empfindelei," and also the absurd hypocrisy of the 
emotions which he seeks to cover with his new word. Campe's 
farther consideration contains a synopsis of method for distin- 
guishing "Empfindsamkeit" from "Empfindelei :" in the first 
place through the manner of their incitement, — the former is 
natural, the latter is fantastic, working without sense of the 
natural properties of things. In this connection he instances 
as examples, Yorick's feeling of shame after his heartless and 
wilful treatment of Father Lorenzo, and, in contrast with this, 
the shallowness of Sterne's imitators who whimpered over the 
death of a violet, and stretched out their arms and threw kisses 
to the moon and stars. In the second place they are dis- 
tinguished in the manner of their expression : "Empfindsam- 
keit" is "secret, unpretentious, laconic and serious ;" the latter 
attracts attention, is theatrical, voluble, whining, vain. 
Thirdly, they are known by their fruits, in the one case by 
deeds, in the other by shallow pretension. In the latter part 



166 

of his volume, Campe treats the problem of preventing the 
perverted form of sensibility by educative endeavor. 

The word "Empfindsamkeit" was afterwards used some- 
times simply as an equivalent of "Empfindung," or sensation, 
without implication of the manner of sensing : for example 
one finds in the Morgenblatt 1 a poem named "Enpfindsam- 
keiten am Rheinfalle vom Felsen der Galerie abgeschrieben." 
In the poem various travelers are made to express their 
thoughts in view of the waterfall. A poet croes, "Ye gods, 
what a hell of waters ;" a tradesman, "away with the rock ;" a 
Briton complains of the "confounded noise," and so on. It is 
plain that the word suffered a generalization of meaning. 

A poetical expression of Campe's main message is found in 
a book called "Winterzeitvertreib eines koniglichen preus- 
sischen Offiziers." 2 A poem entitled "Das empfindsame Herz" 
(p. 210) has the following lines: 

"Freund, ein empfindsames Herz ist nicht fiir diese Welt, 
Von Schelmen wird's verlacht, von Thoren wirds geprellt, 
Doch iib' im Stillen das, was seine Stimme spricht. 
Dein Lohn ist dir gewiss, nur hier auf Erden nicht." 

In a similar vein of protest is the letter of G. Hartmann 3 to 
Denis, dated Tubingen, February 10, 1773, in which the writer 
condemns the affected sentimentalism of Jacobi and others as 
damaging to morals. "O best teacher," he pleads with Denis, 
"continue to represent these performances as unworthy." 

Moser in his "Patriotische Phantasien" 4 represents himself 
as replying to a maid-in-waiting who writes in distress about 
her young mistress, because the latter is suffering from 
"epidemic" sentimentalism, and is absurdly unreasonable in 
her practical incapacity and her surrender to her feelings. 
Moser's sound advice is the substitution of genuine emotion. 
The whole section is entitled "Fur die Empfindsamen." 

Knigge, in his "Umgang mit Menschen," plainly has those 
Germans in mind who saw in Uncle Toby's treatment of the 

1 II, Nr. 204, August 25, 1808, Tubingen. 

2 Breslau, 1779, 2d edition, 1780, by A. W. L. von Rahmel. 

3 See M. Denis, "Literarischer Nachlass," edited by Retzer, Wien, 1801, II, 
p. 196. 

* "Sammtliche Werke," edited by B. R. Abeken, Berlin, 1858, III, pp. 61-64. 



167 

fly an incentive to unreasonable emphasis upon the relations 
between man and the animal world, when, in the chapter on 
the treatment of animals, he protests against the silly, child- 
ish enthusiasm of those who cannot see a hen killed, but par- 
take of fowl greedily on the table, or who passionately open 
the window for a fly. 1 A work was also translated from the 
French of Mistelet, which dealt with the problem of "Emp- 
findsamkeit:" it was entitled "Ueber die Empfindsamkeit in 
Riicksicht auf das Drama, die Romane und die Erziehung." 2 
An article condemning exaggerated sentimentality was pub- 
lished in the Deutsches Museum for February, 1783, under the 
title "Etwas tiber deutsche Empfindsamkeit." 

Goethe's "Der Triumph der Empfindsamkeit" is a merry 
satire on the sentimental movement, but is not to be connected 
directly with Sterne, since Goethe is more particularly con- 
cerned with the petty imitators of his own "Werther." Baum- 
gartner in his Life of Goethe asserts that Sterne's Sentimental 
Journey was one of the books found inside the ridiculous doll 
which the love-sick Prince Oronaro took about with him. This 
is not a necessary interpretation, for Andrason, when he took 
up the first book, exclaimed merely "Empfindsamkeiten," and, 
as Strehlke observes, 3 it is not necessary here to think of a 
single work, because the term was probably used in a general 
way, referring possibly to a number of then popular imitations. 

The satires on "Empfindsamkeit" began to grow numerous 
at the end of the seventies and the beginning of the eighties, so 
that the AUgemeine Littcratur-Zeitung, in October. 1785, feels 
justified in remarking that such attempts are gradually grow- 
ing as numerous as the "Empfindsame Romane" themselves, 
and wishes, "so may they rot together in a grave of oblivion." 4 

1 First American edition as "Practical Philosophy," Lansingburgh, 1805, p. 331. 
Sterne is cited on p. 85. 

2 Altenburg, 1778, p. 90. Reviewed in Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitungen, 1779, p. 
169, March 17, and in Allg. deutsche Bibl., XXXVII, 2, p. 476. 

3 Hempel, VIII, p. 354. 

4 In a review of "Mamsell Fieckchen und ihr Vielgetreuer, ein Erbauungs- 
biichlein fur gefiihlvolle Madchen," which is intended to be a warning to 
tender-hearted maidens against the sentimental mask of young officers. Another 
protest against excess of sentimentalism was "Philotas, ein Versuch zur Beruhi- 
gung und Belehrung fur Leidende und Freunde der Leidenden," Leipzig, 1779. 
See Allg. deutsche. Bibl., XLIV. 1, pp. 128-9. 



168 

Anton Reiser, the hero of Karl Philipp Moritz's autobiograph- 
ical novel (Berlin, 1785-90), begins a satire on affected senti- 
mentalism, which was to bring shafts of ridicule to bear on the 
popular sham, and to throw appreciative light on the real man- 
ifestation of genuine feeling. 1 A kindred satire was "Die 
Geschichte eines Genies," Leipzig, 1780, two volumes, in which 
the prevailing fashion of digression is incidentally satirized. 2 

The most extensive satire on the sentimental movement, and 
most vehement protest against its excesses is the four volume 
novel, "Der Empfindsame," 3 published anonymously in Erfurt, 
1 78 1 -3, but acknowledged in the introduction to the fourth 
volume by its author, Christian Friedrich Timme. He had 
already published one novel in which he exemplified in some 
measure characteristics of the novelists whom he later sought 
to condemn and satirize, that is, this first novel, "Faramond's 
Familiengeschichte," 4 is digressive and episodical. "Der Emp- 
findsame" is much too bulky to be really effective as a satire; 
the reiteration of satirical jibes, the repetition of satirical 
motifs slightly varied, or thinly veiled, recoil upon the force of 
the work itself and injure the effect. The maintenance of a 
single satire through the thirteen to fourteen hundred pages 
which four such volumes contain is a Herculean task which we 
can associate only with a genius like Cervantes. Then, too, 
Timme is an excellent narrator, and his original purpose is 
constantly obscured by his own interest and the reader's inter- 
est in Timme's own story, in his original creations, in the 
variety of his characters. These obtrude upon the original 
aim of the book and absorb the action of the story in such a 
measure that Timme often for whole chapters and sections 
seems to forget entirely the convention of his outsetting. 

His attack is threefold, the centers of his opposition being 
"Werther," "Siegwart" and Sterne, as represented by their fol- 

1 See Erich Schmidt's "Richardson, Rousseau und Goethe," Jena, 1875, p. 297. 

2 See Jenaische Zeitungen von Gel. Sachen, 1780, pp. 627, 761. 

3 The full title is "Der Empfindsame Maurus Pankrazius Ziprianus Kurt auch 
Selmar genannt, ein Moderoman," published by Keyser at Erfurt, 1781-83, with 
a second edition, 1785-87. 

* "Faramonds Familiengeschichte, in Briefen," Erfurt, Keyser, 1779-81. Allg. 
deutsche Bibl., XLIV, 1, p. 120; Jenaische Zeitungen von Gel. Sachen, 1780, pp. 
273. 332; 1781, pp. 113. 3i4- 



169 

lowers and imitators. But the campaign is so simple, and the 
satirist has been to such trouble to label with care the direction 
of his own blows, that it is not difficult to separate the thrusts 
intended for each of his foes. 

Timme's initial purpose is easily illustrated by reference to 
his first chapter, where his point of view is compactly put and 
the soundness of his critical judgment and the forcefulness of 
his satirical bent are unequivocally demonstrated : This chap- 
ter, which, as he says, "may serve instead of preface and intro- 
duction," is really both, for the narrative really begins only in 
the second chapter. "Every nation, every age," he says, "has 
its own doll as a plaything for its children, and sentimentality 
(Empfindsamkeit) is ours." Then with lightness and grace, 
coupled with unquestionable critical acumen, he traces briefly 
the growth of "Empfindsamkeit" in Germany. "Kaum war 
der liebenswiirdige Sterne auf sein Steckenpferd gestiegen, 
und hatte es uns vorgeritten; so versammelten sich wie ge- 
wohnlich in Teutschland alle Jungen an ihn herum, hingen 
sich an ihn, oder schnizten sich sein Steckenpferd in der Ge- 
schwindigkeit nach, oder brachen Stecken vom nachsten Zaun 
oder rissen aus einem Reissigbiindel den ersten besten Priigel, 
setzten sich darauf und ritten mit einer solchen Wut hinter ihm 
drein, dass sie einen Luftwirbel veranlassten, der alles, was ihm 
zu nahe kam, wie ein reissender Strom mit sich fortris, war es 
nur unter den Jungen geblieben, so hatte es noch sein mogen; 
aber ungliicklicherweise fanden audi Manner Geschmack an 
dem artigen Spielchen, sprangen vom ihrem Weg ab und ritten 
mit Stok und Degen und Amtsperiiken unter den Knaben 
einher. Freilich erreichte keiner seinen Meister, den sie sehr 
bald aus dem Gesicht verloren, und nun die possirlichsten 
Spriinge von der Welt machen und doch bildet sich jeder der 
Affen ein, er reite so schon wie der Yorick." 1 

This lively description of Sterne's part in this uprising is, 
perhaps, the best brief characterization of the phenomenon 
and is all the more significant as coming from the pen of a 
contemporary, and written only about a decade after the in- 
ception of the sentimental movement as influenced and 

1 Pp. 8-9. 



170 

furthered by the translation of the Sentimental Journey. It 
represents a remarkable critical insight into contemporaneous 
literary movements, the rarest of all critical gifts, but it has 
been overlooked by investigators who have sought and bor- 
rowed brief words to characterize the epoch. 1 

The contribution of "Werther" and "Siegwart" to the sen- 
timental frenzy are even as succinctly and graphically desig- 
nated ; the latter book, published in 1776, is held responsible for 
a recrudescence of the phenomenon, because it gave a new di- 
rection, a new tone to the faltering outbursts of Sterne's fol- 
lowers and indicated a more comprehensible and hence more 
efficient, outlet for their sentimentalism. Now again, "every 
nook resounded with the whining sentimentality, with sighs, 
kisses, forget-me-nots, moonshine, tears and ecstasies ;" those 
hearts excited by Yorick's gospel, gropingly endeavoring to 
find an outlet for their own emotions which, in their opinion 
were characteristic of their arouser and stimulator, found 
through "Siegwart" a solution of their problem, a relief for 
their emotional excess. 

Timme insists that his attack is only on Yorick's mistaken 
followers and not on Sterne himself. He contrasts the man 
and his imitators at the outset sharply by comments on a quo- 
tation from the novel, "Fragmente zur Geschichte der Zartlich- 
keit" 2 as typifying the outcry of these petty imitators against 
the heartlessness of their misunderstanding critics, — "Sanfter, 
dultender Yorick," he cries, "das war nicht deine Sprache ! 
Du priesest dich nicht mit einer pharisaischen Selbstgeniig- 
samkeit und schimpftest nicht auf die, die dir nicht ahnlich 
waren, 'Doch ! sprachst Du am Grabe Lorenzos, doch ich bin 
so weichherzig wie ein Weib, aber ich bitte die Welt nicht zu 
lachen, sondern mich zu bedauern! Ruhe dienem Staube, 
sanfter, liebevoller Dulter ! und nur einen Funken deines Geis- 
tes deinen Affen." 3 He writes not for the "gentle, tender 



1 Goethe's review of Schummel's "Empfindsame Reise" in Frankfurter Gel. Am. 
represents the high-water mark of understanding criticism relative to individual 
work, but represents necessarily no grasp of the whole movement. 

2 Frankfurt, 1778, Allg. deutsche Bibl., XL, 1, 119. This is by Baker incor- 
rectly ascribed J. F. Abel, the author of "Beitrage zur Geschichte def Liebe," 1778. 

3 P. is- 



171 

souls on whom the spirit of Yorick rests," 1 for those whose 
feelings are easily aroused and who make quick emotional re- 
turn, who love and do the good, the beautiful, the noble; but 
for those who "bei dem wonnigen Wehen und Anhauchen der 
Gottheithaltenden Natur, in huldigem Liebessinn und himmel- 
sussem Frohsein dahin schmelzt . . die ihr vom Sang der 
Liebe, von Mondschein und Tranen euch nahrt," etc., etc. 3 
In these few words he discriminates between the man and 
his influence, and outlines his intentions to satirize and chas- 
tise the insidious disease which had fastened itself upon the 
literature of the time. This passage, with its implied sincer- 
ity of appreciation for the real Yorick, is typical of Timme's 
attitude throughout the book, and his concern lest he should 
appear at any time to draw the English novelist into his con- 
demnation leads him to reiterate this statement of purpose and 
to insist upon the contrast. 

Briikmann, a young theological student, for a time an inti- 
mate of the Kurt home, is evidently intended to represent the 
soberer, well-balanced thought of the time in opposition to the 
feverish sentimental frenzy of the Kurt household. He makes 
an exception of Yorick in his condemnation of the literary 
favorites, the popular novelists of that day, but he deplores the 
effects of misunderstood imitation of Yorick's work, and 
argues his case with vehemence against this sentimental group. 3 
Briikmann differentiates too the different kinds of sentimental- 
ism and their effects in much the same fashion as Campe in his 
treatise published two years before. 4 In all this Briikmann 
may be regarded as the mouth-piece of the author. The clever 
daughter of the gentleman who entertains Pank at his home 
reads a satirical poem on the then popular literature, but ex- 
pressly disclaims any attack on Yorick or "Siegwart," and 
asserts that her bitterness is intended for their imitators. 
Lotte, Pank's sensible and unsentimental, long-suffering 

■p. 17. 
2 p. 18. 
3 1, pp. 313 ff. 

4 This distinction between Empfindsamkeit and Empfindelei is further given 
II, p. 180. 



172 

fiancee, makes further comment on the "apes" of Yorick, 
"Werther," and "Siegwart." 

The unfolding of the story is at the beginning closely sug- 
gestive of Tristram Shandy and is evidently intended to fol- 
low the Sterne novel in a measure as a model. As has already 
been suggested, Timme's own narrative powers balk the con- 
tinuity of the satire, but aid the interest and the movement of 
the story. The movement later is, in large measure, simple 
and direct. The hero is first introduced at his christening, 
and the discussion of fitting names in the imposing family 
council is taken from Walter Shandy's hobby. The narrative 
here, in Sterne fashion, is interrupted by a Shandean digres- 
sion 1 concerning the influence of clergymen's collars and neck- 
bands upon the thoughts and minds of their audiences. Such 
questions of chance influence of trifles upon the greater events 
of life is a constant theme of speculation among the prag- 
matics ; no petty detail is overlooked in the possibility of its 
portentous consequences. Walter Shandy's hyperbolic philos- 
ophy turned about such a focus, the exaltation of insignificant 
trifles into mainsprings of action. Shandy bristles with such 
discussions. 

In Shandy fashion the story doubles on itself after the in- 
troduction and gives minute details of young Kurt's family 
and the circumstances prior to his birth. The later discus- 
sion 2 in the family council concerning the necessary qualities 
in the tutor to be hired for the young Kurt is distinctly a bor- 
rowing from Shandy. 3 Timme imitates Sterne's method of 
ridiculing pedantry ; the requirements listed by the Diaconus 
and the professor are touches of Walter Shandy's misapplied, 
warped, and undigested wisdom. In the nineteenth chapter 
of the third volume 4 we find a Sterne passage associating itself 
with Shandy rather more than the Sentimental Journey. It 
is a playful thrust at a score of places in Shandy in which 
the author converses with the reader about the progress of the 
book, and allows the mechanism of book-printing and the va- 

1 Pp- 33-39- 

2 I, pp. 88 ff. 

8 See discussion concerning Tristram's tutor, Tristram Shandy, II, p. 217. 
* III, pp. 318 ff. 



173 

garies of publishers to obtrude themselves upon the relation 
between writer and reader. As a reminiscence of similar 
promises frequent in Shandy, the author promises in the first 
chapter of the fourth volume to write a book with an eccentric 
title dealing with a list of absurdities. 1 

But by far the greater proportion of the allusions to Sterne 
associate themselves with the Sentimental Journey. A for- 
mer acquaintance of Frau Kurt, whose favorite reading was 
Shandy, Wieland's "Sympatien" and the Sentimental Journey, 
serves to satirize the influence of Yorick's ass episode; this 
gentleman wept at the sight of an ox at work, and never ate 
meat lest he might incur the guilt of the murder of these 
sighing creatures. 2 

The most constantly recurring form of satire is that of con- 
tradiction between the sentimental expression of elevated, uni- 
versal sympathy and broader humanity and the failure to seize 
an immediately presented opportunity to embody desire in deed. 
Thus Frau Kurt, 3 buried in "Siegwart," refuses persistently to 
be disturbed by those in immediate need of a succoring hand. 
Pankraz and his mother while on a drive discover an old man 
weeping inconsolably over the death of his dog. 4 The scene 
of the dead ass at Nampont occurs at once to Madame Kurt 
and she compares the sentimental content of these two ex- 
periences in deprivation, finding the palm of sympathy due to 
the melancholy dog-bewailer before her, thereby exalting the 
sentimental privilege of her own experience as a witness. 
Quoting Yorick, she cries : "Shame on the world ! If men only 
loved one another as this man loves his dog!" 5 At this very 
moment the reality of her sympathy is put to the test by the 
approach of a wretched woman bearing a wretched child, beg- 
ging for assistance, but Frau Kurt, steeped in the delight of 
her sympathetic emotion, repulses her rudely. Pankraz, on 

1 Vol. IV, p. 12. "Zoologica humana," and treating of Affen, Gekken, Nar- 
ren, Schelmen, Schurken, Heuchlern, Schlangen, Schafen, Schweinen, Ochsen und 
Eseln. 

2 I, P- 72- 

3 I, pp. 225 ff. 

4 I, pp. 245 fl. 

5 A substitution merely of another animal for the passage in "Empfindsame 
Reise," Bode's translation, edition of 1769 (2d ed.), I, p. 109. 



174 

going home, takes his Yorick and reads again the chapter con- 
taining the dead-ass episode ; he spends much time in determin- 
ing which event was the more affecting, and tears flow at the 
thought of both animals. In the midst of his vehement curses 
on "unempfindsame Menschen," "a curse upon you, you hard- 
hearted monsters, who treat God's creatures unkindly," etc., 
he rebukes the gentle advances of his pet cat Riepel, rebuffs 
her for disturbing his "Wonnegefuhl," in such a heartless and 
cruel way that, through an accident in his rapt delight at hu- 
man sympathy, the ultimate result is the poor creature's death 
by his own fault. 

In the second volume 1 Timme repeats this method of satire, 
varying conditions only, yet forcing the matter forward, ulti- 
mately, into the grotesque comic, but again taking his cue from 
Yorick's narrative about the ass at Nampont, acknowledging 
specifically his linking of the adventure of Madame Kurt to 
the episode in the Sentimental Journey. Frau Kurt's ardent 
sympathy is aroused for a goat drawing a wagon, and driven 
by a peasant. She endeavors to interpret the sighs of the beast 
and finally insists upon the release of the animal, which she 
asserts is calling to her for aid. The poor goat's parting bleat 
after its departing owner is construed as a curse on the latter's 
hardheartedness. Frau Kurt embraces and kisses the animal. 
During the whole scene the nieghboring village is in flames, 
houses are consumed and poor people rendered homeless, but 
Frau Kurt expresses no concern, even regarding the catas- 
trophe as a merited affliction, because of the villagers' lack of 
sympathy with their domestic animals. The same means of 
satire is again employed in the twelfth chapter of the same 
volume. 2 Pankraz, overcome with pain because Lotte, his be- 
trothed, fails to unite in his sentimental enthusiasm and persists 
in common-sense, tries to bury his grief in a wild ride through 
night and storm. His horse tramples ruthlessly on a poor old 
man in the road ; the latter cries for help, but Pank, buried in 
contemplation of Lotte's lack of sensibility, turns a deaf ear 
to the appeal. 

1 Pp. 241 ff. 

2 Vol. II, pp. 333 s. 



175 

In the seventeenth chapter of the third volume, a senti- 
mental journey is proposed, and most of the fourth volume is 
an account of this undertaking and the events arising from its 
complications. Pankraz's adventures are largely repetitions 
of former motifs, and illustrate the fate indissolubly linked 
with an imitation of Sterne's related converse with the fair 
sex. 1 

The journey runs, after a few adventures, over into an elab- 
orate practical joke in which Pankraz himself is burlesqued by 
his contemporaries. Timme carries his poignancy and keen- 
ness of satire over into bluntness of burlesque blows in a large 
part of these closing scenes. Pankraz loses the sympathy of 
the reader, involuntarily and irresistibly conceded him, and be- 
comes an inhuman freak of absurdity, beyond our interest. 2 

Pankraz is brought into disaster by his slavish following of 
suggestions aroused through fancied parallels between his own 
circumstances and those related of Yorick. He finds a sor- 
rowing woman 3 sitting, like Maria of Moulines, beneath a 
poplar tree. Pankraz insists upon carrying out this striking 
analogy farther, which the woman, though she betrays no 
knowledge of the Sentimental Journey, is not loath to accede 
to, as it coincides with her own nefarious purposes. Timme 
in the following scene strikes a blow at the abjectly sensual 
involved in much of the then sentimental, unrecognized and 
unrealized. 

Pankraz meets a man carrying a cage of monkeys. 4 He 
buys the poor creatures from their master, even as Frau Kurt 
had purchased the goat. The similarity to the Starling nar- 
rative in Sterne's volume fills Pankraz's heart with glee. The 
Starling wanted to get out and so do his monkeys, and Pank- 
raz's only questions are: "What did Yorick do?" "What 

1 See the record of Pankraz's sentimental interview with the pastor's wife. 

2 For example, see Pankraz's prayer to Riepel, the dead cat, when he learns that 
another has done more than he in raising a lordlier monument to the feline's 
virtues: "Wenn du itz in der Gesellschaft reiner, verklarter Kazengeister, Him- 
nen miaust, O so sieh einen Augenblick auf diese Welt herab! Sieh meinen 
Schmerz, meine Reue!" His sorrow for Riepel is likened to the Nampont pil- 
grim's grief for his dead ass. 

3 IV, pp. 222-235. 
1 IV, pp. 253 ff. 



176 

would he do?" He resolves to do more than is recorded of 
Yorick, release the prisoners at all costs. Yorick's mono- 
log occurs to him and he parodies it. The animals greet their 
release in the thankless way natural to them, — a point already 
enforced in the conduct of Frau Kurt's goat. 

In the last chapter of the third volume Sterne's relationship 
to "Eliza" is brought into the narrative. Pankraz writes a 
letter wherein he declares amid exaggerated expressions of 
bliss that he has found "Elisa," his "Elisa." This is significant 
as showing that the name Eliza needed no further explanation, 
but, from the popularity of the Yorick-Eliza letters and the 
wide-spread admiration of the relation, the name Eliza was 
accepted as a type of that peculiar feminine relation which 
existed between Sterne and Mrs. Draper, and which appealed 
to Sterne's admirers. 

Pankraz's new Order of the Garter, born of his wild frenzy 1 
of devotion over this article of Elisa's wearing apparel, is an 
open satire on Leuchsenring's and Jacobi's silly efforts noted 
elsewhere. The garter was to bear Elisa's silhouette and the 
device "Orden vom Strumpfband der empfindsamen Liebe." 

The elaborate division of moral preachers 2 into classes may 
be further mentioned as an adaptation from Sterne, cast in 
Yorick's mock-scientific manner. 

A consideration of these instances of allusion and adapta- 
tion with a view to classification, reveals a single line of de- 
markation obvious and unaltered. And this line divides the 
references to Sterne's sentimental influence from those to his 
whimsicality of narration, his vagaries of thought; that is, it 
follows inevitably, and represents precisely the two aspects of 
Sterne as an individual, and as an innovator in the world of 
letters. But that a line of cleavage is further equally discern- 
ible in the treatment of these two aspects is not to be over- 
looked. On the one hand is the exaggerated, satirical, bur- 
lesque; on the other the modified, lightened, softened. And 
these two lines of division coincide precisely. 

1 IV, pp. 113 ff. : "Wenn ich so denke, wie es Elisen beriihrt, so wird mir 
schwindlich. . . . Ich mochte es umschlingen wie es Elisen's Bein umschlungen 
hat, mogt mich ganz verweben mit ihm," etc. 

2 IV, pp. 214 ff. 



177 

The slight touches of whimsicality, suggesting Sterne, are 
a part of Timme's own narrative, evidently adapted with ap- 
proval and appreciation ; they are never carried to excess, 
satirized or burlesqued, but may be regarded as purposely 
adopted, as a result of admiration and presumably as a sug- 
gestion to the possible workings of sprightliness and grace on 
the heaviness of narrative prose at that time. Timme, as a 
clear-sighted contemporary, certainly confined the danger of 
Sterne's literary influence entirely to the sentimental side, and 
saw no occasion to censure an importation of Sterne's whim- 
sies. Pank's ode on the death of Riepel, written partly in 
dashes and partly in exclamation points, is not a disproof of 
this assertion. Timme is not satirizing Sterne's whimsical use 
of typographical signs, but rather the Germans who misunder- 
stood Sterne and tried to read a very peculiar and precious 
meaning into these vagaries. The sentimental is, however, 
always burlesqued and ridiculed ; hence the satire is directed 
largely against the Sentimental Journey, and Shandy is fol- 
lowed mainly in those sections, which, we are compelled to 
believe, he wrote for his own pleasure, and in which he was 
led on by his own interest. 

The satire on sentimentalism is purposeful, the imitation 
and adaptation of the whimsical and original is half-uncon- 
scious, and bespeaks admiration and commendation. 

Timme's book was sufficiently popular to demand a second 
edition, but it never received the critical examination its merits 
deserved. Wieland's Teutscher Merkur and the Bibliothek 
der schonen Wissenschaften ignore it completely. The Go- 
thaische Gelehrte Zeitungcn announces the book in its issue of 
August 2, 1780, but the book itself is not reviewed in its col- 
umns. The Jenaische Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen ac- 
cords it a colorless and unappreciative review in which 
Timme is reproached for lack of order in his work (a cen- 
sure more applicable to the first volume), and further for 
his treatment of German authors then popular. 1 The latter 
statement stamps the review as unsympathetic with Timme's 

1 1781, p. 573: "Dass er einzelne Stellen aus unsern angesehensten Schrift- 
stellern heraus rupfet und in eine lacherliche Verbindung bringt." 
12 



178 

satirical purpose. In the Erfurtische gelehrte Zeitiing, 1 in the 
very house of its own publication, the novel is treated in a 
long review which hesitates between an acknowledged lack of 
comprehension and indignant denunciation. The reviewer 
fears that the author is a "Pasquillant oder gar ein Indiffer- 
entist" and hopes the public will find no pleasure (Geschmack) 
in such bitter jesting (Schnaken). He is incensed at Timme's 
contention that the Germans were then degenerate as com- 
pared with their Teutonic forefathers, and Timme's attack on 
the popular writers is emphatically resented. "Aber nun 
kommt das Schlimme erst," he says, "da fiihrt er aus Schriften 
unserer grossten Schenies, aus den Lieblings-biichern der 
Nazion, aus Werther's Leiden, dem Siegwart, den Fragmenten 
zur Geschichte der Zartlichkeit, Miiller's Freuden und Lei- 
den, Klinger's Schriften u. s. w. zur Bestatigung seiner Be- 
hauptung, solche Stellen mit soldier Bosheit an, dass man in 
der That ganz verzweifelt wird, ob sie von einem Schenie oder 
von einem Affen geschrieben sind." 

In the number for July 6, 1782, the second and third volumes 
are reviewed. Pity is expressed for the poor author, "denn 
ich fiirchte es wird sich ein solches Geschrey wider ihn erhe- 
ben, wovon ihm die Ohren gallen werden." Timme wrote re- 
views for this periodical, and the general tone of this notice 
renders it not improbable that he roguishly wrote the review 
himself or inspired it, as a kind of advertisement for the novel 
itself. It is certainly a challenge to the opposing party. 

The Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek 2 alone seems to grasp 
the full significance of the satire. "We acknowledge gladly," 
says the reviewer, "that the author has with accuracy noted 
and defined the rise, development, ever-increasing contagion 
and plague-like prevalence of this moral pestilence ; . . . that 
the author has penetrated deep into the knowledge of this dis- 
ease and its causes." He wishes for an engraving of the 
Sterne hobby-horse cavalcade described in the first chapter, 
and begs for a second and third volume, "aus deutscher Vater- 
landsliebe." Timme is called "Our German Cervantes." 

1 1781, pp. 265-7. 

2 LI, 1, p. 234. 



179 

The second and third volumes are reviewed 1 with a brief 
word of continued approbation. 

A novel not dissimilar in general purpose, but less success- 
ful in accomplishment, is Wezel's "Wilhelmine Arend, oder 
die Gefahren der Empfindsamkeit," Dessau and Leipzig, 1782, 
two volumes. The book is more earnest in its conception. Its 
author says in the preface that his desire was to attack "Emp- 
findsamkeit" on its dangerous and not on its comic side, hence 
the book avoids in the main the lighthearted and telling bur- 
lesque, the Hudibrastic satire of Timme's novel. He works 
along lines which lead through increasing trouble to a tragic 
denouement. 

The preface contains a rather elaborate classification of 
kinds of "Empfindsamkeit," which reminds one of Sterne's 
mock-scientific discrimination. This classification is accord- 
ing to temperament, education, example, custom, reading, 
strength or weakness of the imagination; there is a happy, a 
sad, a gentle, a vehement, a dallying, a serious, a melancholy, 
sentimentality, the last being the most poetic, the most perilous. 

The leading character, Wilhelmine, is, like most charac- 
ters which are chosen and built up to exemplify a preconceived 
theory, quite unconvincing. In his foreword Wezel analyzes 
his heroine's character and details at some length the motives 
underlying the choice of attributes and the building up of her 
personality. This insight into the author's scaffolding, this 
explanation of the mechanism of his puppet-show, does not 
enhance the aesthetic, or the satirical force of the figure. She 
is not conceived in flesh and blood, but is made to order. 

The story begins in letters, — a method of story-telling which 
was the legacy of Richardson's popularity — and this device is 
again employed in the second volume (Part VII). Wilhel- 
mine Arend is one of those whom sentimentalism seized like a 
maddening pestiferous disease. We read of her that she 
melted into tears when her canary bird lost a feather, that she 
turned white and trembled when Dr. Braun hacked worms to 
pieces in conducting a biological experiment. On one occasion 
she refused to drive home, as this would take the horses out 

1 LII, 1, p. 149. 



180 

in the noonday sun and disturb their noonday meal, — an ex- 
orbitant sympathy with brute creation which owes its popular- 
ity to Yorick's ass. It is not necessary here to relate the whole 
story. Wilhelmine's excessive sentimentality estranges her 
from her husband, a weak brutish man, who has no compre- 
hension of her feelings. He finds a refuge in the debasing af- 
fections of a French opera-singer, Pouilly, and gradually sinks 
to the very lowest level of degradation. This all is accom- 
plished by the interposition and active concern of friends, by 
efforts at reunion managed by benevolent intriguers and kindly 
advisers. 

The advice of Drs. Braun and Irwin is especially signifi- 
cant in its sane characterization of Wilhelmine's mental disor- 
ders, and the observations upon "Empfindsamkeit" which are 
scattered through the book are trenchant, and often markedly 
clever. Wilhelmine holds sentimental converse with three 
kindred spirits in succession, Webson, Dittmar, and Geissing. 
The first reads touching tales aloud to her and they two unite 
their tears, a sentimental idea dating from the Maria of Mou- 
lines episode. The part which the physical body, with its de- 
mands and desires unacknowledged and despised, played as 
the unseen moving power in these three friendships is clearly 
and forcefully brought out. Allusion to Timme's elucidation 
of this principle, which, though concealed, underlay much of 
the sentimentalism of this epoch, has already been made. 
Finally Wilhelmine is persuaded by her friends to leave her 
husband, and the scene is shifted to a little Harz village, where 
she is married to Webson ; but the unreasonableness of her na- 
ture develops inordinately, and she is unable ever to submit to 
any reasonable human relations, and the rest of the tale is oc- 
cupied with her increasing mental aberration, her retirement 
to a hermit-like seclusion, and her death. 

The book, as has been seen, presents a rather pitiful satire 
on the whole sentimental epoch, not treating any special man- 
ifestation, but applicable in large measure equally to those who 
joined in expressing the emotional ferment to which Sterne, 
"Werther" and "Siegwart" gave impulse, and for which they 
secured literary recognition. Wezel fails as a satirist, partly 



181 

because his leading character is not convincing, but largely 
because his satirical exaggeration, and distortion of character- 
istics, which by a process of selection renders satire efficient, fails 
to make the exponent of sentimentalism ludicrous, but renders 
her pitiful. At the same time this satirical warping impairs the 
value of the book as a serious presentation of a prevailing 
malady. The book falls between two stools. 

A precursor of "Wilhelmine Arend" from Wezel's own 
hand was "Die ungliickliche Schwache," which was published 
in the second volume of his "Satirische Erzahlungen." 1 In 
this book we have a character with a heart like the sieve of the 
Danaids, and to Frau Laclerc is attributed "an exaggerated 
softness of heart which was unable to resist a single impres- 
sion, and was carried away at any time, wherever the present 
impulse bore it." The plot of the story, with the intrigues of 
Graf. Z., the Pouilly of the piece, the separation of husband 
and wife, their reunion, the disasters following directly in the 
train of weakness of heart in opposing sentimental attacks, are 
undoubtedly children of the same purpose as that which 
brought forth "Wilhelmine Arend." 

Another satirical protest was, as one reads from a contem- 
porary review, "Die Tausend und eine Masche, oder Yoricks 
wahres Shicksall, ein blaues Mahrchen von Herrn Stanhope" 
(1777, 8°). The book purports to be the posthumous work 
of a young Englishman, who, disgusted with Yorick's German 
imitators, grew finally indignant with Yorick himself. The 
Almanack der deutschen Musen (1778, pp. 99-100) finds that 
the author misjudges Yorick. The book is written in part if 
not entirely in verse. 

In 1774 a correspondent of Wieland's Merkur writes, beg- 
ging this authoritative periodical to condemn a weekly paper 
just started in Prague, entitled "Wochentlich Etwas," which is 
said to be written in the style of Tristram Shandy and the 
Sentimental Journey, M . . . R . . . and "die Beytrage zur 
Geheimen Geschichte des menschlichen Herzens und Ver- 
standes," and thereby is a shame to "our dear Bohemia." 

1 Reviewed in Almanack der deutscher Musen, 1779, p. 41. The work was 
published in Leipzig, I, 1777; II, 1778. 



182 

In this way it is seen how from various sources and in 
various ways protest was made against the real or distorted 
message of Laurence Sterne. 



A BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY OF LAURENCE STERNE 

The Case of Elijah and the Widow of Zerephath considered: 
A charity sermon preach'd on Good Friday, April 17, 1747. 
York, 1747. 

The Abuses of Conscience set forth in a sermon preached in 
the Cathedral Church of St. Peter's, York, July 29, 1750. 
York, 1750. 

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, vols. I, II, York, 
1759. 2d. ed. London, 1760. Vols. Ill, IV, London, 
1761. Vols. V, VI, London, 1762. Vols. VII, VIII, Lon- 
don, 1765. Vol. IX, London, 1767. 

Sermons of Mr. Yorick. Vols. I, II, London, 1760. Vols, 
III, IV, London, 1766. Vols. V, VI, VII, London, 1769. 

A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, 2 vols. 
London, 1768. 

A Political Romance addressed to , esq., of York, 1769. 

The first edition of the Watchcoat story. 

Letters from Yorick to Eliza. London, 1775. 

Twelve Letters to his Friends on Various Occasions, to which 
is added his history of a Watchcoat, with explanatory 
notes. London, 1775. 

Letters of the Late Reverend Laurence Sterne to his most inti- 
mate Friends with a Fragment in the Manner of Rabelais 
to which are prefixed Memoirs of his life and family 
written by himself, published by his daughter, Lydia Sterne 
de Medalle. London, 1775. 

Seven Letters written by Sterne and his Friends, edited by W. 
Durrant Cooper. 1844. 

Unpublished Letters of Laurence Sterne. In Philobiblon So- 
ciety Miscellanies. 1855, Vol. II. The Kitty Corre- 
spondence. 

183 



184 

Works of Laurence Sterne. 10 vols. London, Dodsley, etc., 

1793- 
Works. Edited by G. E. B. Saintsbury, 6 vols. London, 

1894. 
These two editions have been chiefly used in the preparation of this 
work. Because of its general accessibility references to Tristram Shandy 
and the Sentimental Journey are made to the latter. 
Illustrations of Sterne, by Dr. John Ferriar. Manchester, 

1798. 2d edition: London, 1812. 
Lift of Laurence Sterne, by Percy Fitzgerald. 1864. Re- 
vised edition, London, 1896. 2 vols. 
Sterne, in English Men of Letters Series, by H. D. Traill. 

1883. 
Sir Walter Scott. Lives of the Novelists, Vol. I, p. 156-186. 
Paul Stapfer. Laurence Sterne, sa personne et ses ouvrages 

etude precedee d'un fragment inedit de Sterne. Paris, 

1882. 
William M. Thackeray. Sterne and Goldsmith, in English 

Humorists, 1858, pp. 286-341. 
J. B. Montegut, Essais sur la Litterature anglaise. 1883, pp. 

279-364. 
Walter Bagehot, Sterne and Thackeray, in Literary Studies. 

1902, Vol. II, pp. 282-325. 
E. Scherer. Laurence Sterne or the Humorist, in Essays on 

English Literature. 1891, pp. 150-173. 
Sir Leslie Stephen. Hours in a Library. 1852. Vol. Ill, 

PP- 1 39" 1 74- 
Herbert Paul. Men and Letters. 1901. Pp. 67-89. 
Whitwell Elwin. Some XVIII Century Men of Letters. 

1902. Vol. II, pp. 1-81. 
Sidney Lee. Article on Sterne in the National Dictionary of 

Biography. 



185 

A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF STERNE IN GERMANY 

It cannot be assumed that the following list of reprints and transla- 
tions is complete. The conditions of the book trade then existing were 
such that unauthorized editions of popular books were very common. 

i. German editions of Sterne's works including spuri- 
ous OR DOUBTFUL WORKS PUBLISHED UNDER HIS NAME. 

a. Tristram Shandy 

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 6 vols. 
Altenburg, 1772. (Richter.) 

The same. Altenburg, 1776. 

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. A 
new edition. Basil, 1792. (Legrand). 

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, 2 vols gr. 8°. 
Gotha, 1792. (Ettinger). Identical with the preceding. 

Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, 4 vols, (with 4 en- 
gravings). Wien, 1798. (Sammer.) 

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, 4 vols. Gotha, 
1805-6. (Stendel and Keil.) 

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Schneeburg, 1833. 
Pocket edition of the most eminent English authors of the 
preceding century, of which it is vols. XI-XIII. 

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, 2 vols., gr. 8°. 
Basel. (Thurneisen), without date. 

b. The Sentimental Journey 

A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, 2 vols. 8°. 

Altenburg, 1771. (Richter.) 
The same with cuts, 2 vols, 8°. Altenburg, 1772. (Richter.) 
The same. Altenburg, 1776. (Richter.) 
The same. Gottingen, 1779. (Diederich). Pp. 199. No 

introduction or notes. 
A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy in two books. 

Gottingen, 1787. (Dietrich.) 
A Sentimental Journey with a continuation by Eugenius and 

an account of the life and writings of L. Sterne, gr. 8°. 

Basel, 1792. (Legrand, Ettinger in Gotha.) 



186 

Sentimental Journey through France and Italy mit Anmer- 
kungen und Wortregister, 8°. Halle, 1794. (Renger). 

A sentimental Journey through France and Italy. 4 parts 
complete in 2 vols. 2d edition to which are now added 
several other pieces by the same author. (With four en- 
gravings) 12 . Wien, 1798. (Sammer.) 

A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy and the con- 
tinuation by Eugenius, 2 parts, 8°. Halle, 1806. (Hen- 
del). 

A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy by Mr. 
Yorick. In Two Books. Gottingen, 1806. (Dietrich). 
Pp. 271. 

A Sentimental Journey. New edition, 12 . Altenburg, 1815. 
(Brockhaus in Leipzig.) 

A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, gr. 12 °. 
Jena, 1826. (Schmid.) 

A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, 16 . Nurn- 
berg, 1828. (Campe.) 

A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. Schnee- 
berg, 1830. Pocket edition of the most eminent English 
authors of the preceding century, of which it is Vol. IV. 

A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. Basil 
(Thurneisen), without date. 

A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. London. 
Cooke. Campe in Hamburg, without date. 

Tauchnitz has published editions of both Shandy and the 
Journey. 

c. Letters, Sermons and Miscellaneous 

Yorick's letters to Eliza, Eliza's letters to Yorick. Sterne's 

letters to his Friends. Altenburg, 1776. (Richter.) 
Letters to his most intimate Friends, with a fragment in the 

manner of Rabelais published by his Daughter, Mme. 

Medalle. 3 vols., 8°. Altenburg, 1776. (Richter.) 
Letters written between Yorick and Eliza with letters to his 

Friends. Nurnberg, 8°, 1788. (Schneider.) 



187 

Letters written between Yorick and Eliza. 12°. Vienna, 

i?95- 

Letters between Yorick and Eliza, 12°. Wien, 1797. 
(Sammer.) 

Letters of the late Rev. Mr. Laurence Sterne, to his most inti- 
mate friends, on various occasions, as published by his 
daughter, Mrs. Medalle, and others, including the letters 
between Yorick and Eliza. To which are added : An ap- 
pendix of XXXII Letters never printed before; A frag- 
ment in the manner of Rabelais, and the History of a 
Watchcoat. With explanatory notes. 2 vols. Vienna, 
1797. (Sammer.) 

Letters written between Yorick and Eliza, mit einem erklaren- 
den Wortregister zum Selbstunterricht von J. H. Emmert. 
Giessen, 1802. 

Sermons by Laurence Sterne. 7 vols. Altenburg, 1777. 
(Richter) 8°. 

The Koran, or Essays, Sentiments and Callimachies, etc. 1 
vol. Wien, 1795. (Sammer.) 

The Koran, etc. Wien, 1798). (Sammer). 12 °, pp. 275. 

Gleanings from the works of Laurence Sterne. Campe's edi- 
tion. Nurnberg and New York. Without date. 

11. German Translations of Sterne. 
a. Tristram Shandy 

Das Leben und die Meynungen des Herrn Tristram Shandy. 

Berlin und Stralsund, 1763. Parts I- VI. Translation by 

Johann Friedrich Ziickert. 
The same. Parts VII-VIII. 1763. 
The same. Part IX (spurious). 1767. 
Das Leben und die Meynungen des Herrn Tristram Shandy. 

Nach einer neuen Uebersetzung. Berlin und Stralsund, 

1 769- 1772. (Lange.) A revised edition of the previous 

translation. 
Das Leben und die Meinungen des Herrn Tristram Shandy aus 

dem Englischen ubersetzt, nach einer neuen Uebersetzung 

auf Anrathen des Hrn. Hofrath Wielands verfasst. Neun 

Theile. Berlin, 1774. 



188 

Another edition of the same translation. 

Tristram Schandi's Leben und Meynungen. Hamburg, 1774. 

Bey Bode. Translation by J. J. C. Bode. Nine parts. I, 

pp. 185; II, pp. 191 ; III, p. 210; IV, pp. 226; V, pp. 166; 

VI, pp. 164; VII, pp. 148; VIII, pp. 144; IX, pp. 128. 
The same. Zweite verbesserte Auflage. Hamburg, 1776. 
The same, 1777. 
The same, 1778. 

The same. Nachdruck, Hanau und Hochst. 1776-7. 
The same. Nachdruck. Berlin, 1778. 
Tristram Shandy's Leben und Meinungen, von neuem ver- 

deutscht. 3 vols. Leipzig, 1801. (Linke.) A revision 

of Bode's translation by J. L. Benzler. 
The same. Hannover. 1810. (Hahn.) 
Leben und Meinungen des Tristram Shandy von Sterne — neu 

ubertragen von W. H., Magdeburg, 183 1. Sammlung der 

ausgezeichnetsten humoristischen und komischen Romane 

des Auslands in neuen zeitgemassen Bearbeitungen. Bd. X, 

I, pp. 188; II, pp. 192; III, pp. 151; IV, pp. 168; V, pp. 

2 56; V, pp. 257-264, Ueber Laurence Sterne und dessen 

Werke. Another revision of Bode's work. 
Tristram Shandy's Leben und Meinungen, von Lorenz Sterne, 

aus dem Englischen von Dr. G. R. Barmann. Berlin, 1856. 
Tristram Shandy's Leben und Meinungen, aus dem Englischen 

ubersetzt von F. A. Gelbcke. Nos. 96-99 of "Bibliothek 

auslandischer Klassiker." Leipzig, 1879. (Bibliogra- 

phisches Institut.) 
Leben und Meinungen des Herrn Tristram Shandy. Deutsch 

von A. Seubert. Leipzig, 1881. (Reclam.) 

b. The Sentimental Journey 

Yorick's emfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien. 

Hamburg und Bremen, 1768. Translated by J. J. C. Bode. 
The same, with parts III, IV (Stevenson's continuation), 1769. 
The same. Hamburg und Bremen, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1776, 

1777, 1804. 
The same. Mannheim. 1780. 
The same. Leipzig, 1797, 1802. (Rabenhorst.) 



189 

Versuch iiber die menschliche Natur in Herrn Yoricks, Ver- 
fasser des Tristram Shandy Reisen durch Frankreich und 
Italien. Braunschweig, 1769. (Furstliche Waisenhaus- 
buchhandlung), pp. 248. Translation by Hofprediger 
Mittelstedt. 

Herrn Yoricks, Verfasser des Tristram Shandy, Reisen durch 
Frankreich und Italien, als ein Versuch iiber die mensch- 
liche Natur. Braunschweig, 1769. Is a second edition of 
the former. 

The same, 1774. 

Yoricks empfindsame Reise von neuem verdeutscht. 2 vols. 
Leipzig, 1 80 1. A revision of Bode's work by Johann 
Lorenz Benzler. 

Empfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien iibersetzt von 
Ch. C. Meissner. Zwickau, 1825. (Schumann.) 

Eine Empfindsame Reise . . . iibersetzt, mit Lebensbeschrei- 
bung des Autors und erlauternden Bemerkungen von H. 
A. Clemen. Essen, 1827. 

A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. Yorick's 
Empfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien, mit er- 
lauternden Anmerkungen von W. Gramberg. 8°. Olden- 
burg, 1833. (Schulze.) Since both titles are given, it is 
not evident whether this is a reprint, a translation, or both. 

Laurence Sterne — Yoricks Empfindsame Reise durch Frank- 
reich und Italien. Halle. (Hendel.) A revision of 
Bode's translation, with a brief introductory note by E. 
Suchier. 

Yorick's empfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien. 
iibersetzt von A. Lewald. Pforzheim, 1842. 

Yorick's empfindsame Reise, iibersetzt von K. Eitner. Bib- 
liothek auslandischer Klassiker. Bd. 75. Hildburg- 
hausen. 

Empfindsame Reise durch Frankreich und Italien Deutsch von 
Friedrich Horlek. Leipzig, 1859. (Reclam.) 

c. Letters, Sermons and Miscellaneous 
Brief e von (Yorick) Sterne an seine Freunde Nebst seiner 



190 

Geschichte eines Ueberrocks, Aus dem Englischen. Ham- 
burg, 1775. (Bohn.) Pp. VIII, 144. 

Yorick's Briefe an Elisa. Hamburg, 1775. (Bohn.) Pp. 
XX, 75. 

Briefe von Elisa an Yorick. Aus dem Engl. Hamburg, 

1775. Pp. XVI, 64. 

Translation of the above three probably by Bode. 

Briefwechsel mit Elisen und seinen iibrigen Freunden. Leip- 
zig- 1775. (Weidmann.) 

Elisens achte Briefe an Yorik. Leipzig, 1775. 

Briefe an seine vertrauten Freunde nebst Fragment im Ge- 
schmack des Rabelais und einer von ihm selbst verfassten 
Nachricht von seinem Leben und seiner Familie, heraus- 
gegeben von seiner Tochter Madame Medalle. Leipzig, 

1776. (Weidmann.) Pp. XXVIII, 391. Translation 
probably by Chr. Felix Weisse. 

The same. 1785. 

Yorick's Briefe an Elisa. Leipzig, 1785. (Goschen.) A 
new edition of Bode's rendering. 

Briefe von Lorenz Sterne, dem Verfasser von Yorik's empfind- 
same Reisen. Englisch und Deutsch zum erstenmal ab- 
gedruckt. London, 1787. Is probably the same as "Hin- 
terlassene Briefe. Englisch und Deutsch." Leipzig, 1787. 
(Nauck.) 

Predigten von Laurenz Sterne oder Yorick. Zurich. I, 1766; 
II, 1767. (Fuesslin und Comp.) 

The same, III, under the special title "Reden an Esel." 

Predigten. Zurich, 1773. (Orell.) 

Neue Sammlung von Predigten: Leipsig, 1770. (Hahn.) 
Translation by Prof. A. E. Klausing. 

Reden an Esel. Mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen. Ham- 
burg, 1795. (Herold, jun.) 

Reden an Esel, von Lorenz Sterne. Thorn, 1795. 

Lorenz Sterne des Menschenkenners Benutzung einiger 
Schriftsteller. Basel, 1781. (Flick.) An abridged edi- 
tion of his sermons. 



191 

Buch der Predigten oder ioo Predigten und Reden aus den 
verschiedenen Zeiten by R. Nesselmann. Elbing, 1868. 
Contains Sterne's sermon on St. Luke X, 23-37. 

Yorick's Nachgelassene Werke. Leipzig, 1771. Translation 
of the Koran, by J. G. Gellius. 

Der Koran, oder Leben und Meinungen des Tria Juncta in 
Uno, M. N. A. Ein hinterlassenes Werk von dem Ver- 
fasser des Tristram Shandy. Hamburg, 1778. Transla- 
tion probably by Bode. 

Yorick's Betrachtungen iiber verschiedene wichtige und an- 
genehme Gegenstande. Frankfurt und Leipzig, 1769. 

Betrachtungen iiber verschiedene Gegenstande. Braun- 
schweig, 1789. (Schulbuchhandlung.) 

Nachlese aus Laurence Sterne's Werken in's Deutsche iibersetzt 
von Julius Voss. Thorn, 1854. 

French translations of Sterne's works were issued at Bern and 
Strassburg, and one of his "Sentimental Journey" at 
Kopenhagen and an Italian translation of the same in Dres- 
den (1822), and in Prague (1821). 

in. Miscellaneous Authorities. 

The following list contains (a) books or articles treating particularly, 
or at some length, the relation of German authors to Laurence Sterne ; 
(b) books of general usefulness in determining literary conditions in the 
eighteenth century, to which frequent reference is made ; (c) periodicals 
which are the sources of reviews and criticisms cited in the text. Other 
works to which only incidental reference is made are noted in the text 
itself. 

Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek. Berlin und Stettin, 1765-92. 

Edited by Nicolai. 
Allgemeine Litteratur Zeitung. Jena, Leipzig, Wien, 1781. 
Almanach der deutschen Musen. Leipzig, 1 770-1 781. Edited 

by Chr. Heinr. Schmid. 
Altonaer Reichs-Postreuter. 1750. Editor 1772-1786 was 

Albrecht Wittenberg. 
Altonischer Gelehrter Mercurius. Altona, iy6^-iyy2. 
Appell, Joh. Wilhelm. Werther und Seine Zeit. 4 Aufl. 

Oldenburg, 1896. 



192 

Auserlesene Bibliothek der neuesten deutschen Litteratur. 

Lemgo, 1 772- 1 778. 
Baker, Thomas Stockham. The Influence of Laurence Sterne 

upon German Literature. In Americana Germanica. Vol. 

II, No. 4, pp. 41-56. 
Bauer, F. Sternescher Humor in Immermanns Munchhausen. 

Programm. Wien, 1896. 
Bauer, F. Ueber den Einfluss Laurence Sternes auf Chr. M. 

Wieland. Programm. Karlsbad. 1898. 
Behmer, Karl August. Laurence Sterne und C. M. Wieland. 

Forschungen zur neueren Litteraturgeschichte, No. 9 

Miinchen, 1899. Ein Beitrag zur Erforschung fremder 

Einfliisse auf Wielands Dichtungen. 
Berlinische Monatsschrift, 1783-1796, edited by Gedike and 

Biester. 
Bibliothek der schonen Wissenschaften und der freyen Kiinste. 

Leipzig, 1757-65. 12 vol. I-IV edited by Nicolai and 

Mendelssohn, V-XII edited by Chr. Felix Weisse. 
J. J. C. Bode's Literarisches Leben. Nebst dessen Bildniss 

von Lips. Berlin, 1796. First published in Vol. VI of 

Bode's translation of Montaigne, "Michael Montaigne's 

Gedanken und Meinungen." Berlin, 1793-1795. The life 

of Bode is Vol. VI, pp. III-CXLIV. 
Bremisches Magazin zur Ausbreitung der Wissenschaften, 

Kiinste und Tugend. Bremen und Leipzig, 1757-66. 
Biichner, Alex. Sternes Coran und Makariens Archiv. 

Goethe ein Plagiator ? Morgenblatt, No. 39, p. 922 f . 
Czerny, Johann, Sterne, Hippel und Jean Paul. Berlin, 1904. 
Deutsche Bibliothek der schonen Wissenschaften. Halle, 

1 767- 1 77 1. Edited by Klotz. 
Deutsches Museum. Leipzig, 1776-1788. Edited by Dohm 

and Boie and continued to 1791 as Neues deutsches 

Museum. 
Ebeling, Friedrich W. Geschichte der komischen Literatur in 

Deutschland wahrend der 2. Halfte des 18. Jahrhunderts. 

Leipzig, 1869. 3 vols. 
Elze, Frederich Karl. Die englische Sprache und Litteratur 

in Deutschland. Dresden, 1864. 



193 

Erfurtische Gelehrte Zeitung. Erfurt, 1781-1796. 

Frankfurter Gelehrte Anzeigen. Frankfurt. Published under 
several titles, 1736- 1790. Editors, Merck, Bahrdt and 
others. 

Gervinus, G. G. Gesehichte der deutschen Dichtung. 
Edited by Karl Bartsch. 5 vols. Leipzig, 1871-74. 

Goedeke, Karl. Grundriss zur Gesehichte der deutschen Dich- 
tung. Dresden, 1884- 1900. 

Gothaische gelehrte Zeitungen. Gotha, 1774- 1804. Pub- 
lished and edited by Ettinger. 

Gottingische Anzeigen von Gelehrten Sachen 1753. Michaelis 
was editor 1753-1770, then Christian Gottlob Heyne. 

Hamburger Adress-Comptoir Nachrichten, 1767. Edited by 
Joh. Wm. Dumpf. 

Hamburgischer unpartheyischer Correspondent. Full title, 
Staats- und Gelehrte Zeitung des Hamburgischen unpar- 
theyischen Correspondenten. Editor, 1763-3, Bode; 1767- 
1770, Albrecht Wittenberg. 

Hedouin, Alfred. Goethe plagiaire de Sterne, in Le Monde 
Magonnique. July, 1863. 

Heine, Carl. Der Roman in Deutschland von 1774 bis 1778. 
Halle, 1892. 

Hettner, Hermann. Gesehichte der deutschen Literatur im 
achtzehnten Jahrhundert. 4te Auflage. Braunschweig, 
1893-94. This is the third division of his Literatur- 
geschichte des achtzehnten Jahrhunderts. 

Hillebrand, Joseph. Die deutsche Nationalliteratur seit dem 
Anfange des achtzehnten Jahrhunderts, besonders seit Les- 
sing bis auf die Gegenwart. 2te Ausgabe. Hamburg und 
Gotha, 1850. 

Hirsching, Friedr. Carl Gottlob. Historisch-litterarisches 
Handbuch beruhmter und denkwiirdiger Personen, welche 
in clem 18. Jahrhundert gelebt haben. Vol. XIII. Leip- 
zig, 1809. 

Jenaische Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen. Jena, 1765-1781. 

Jordens, Karl Heinrich. Lexikon deutscher Dichter und Pro- 
saisten. Leipzig, 1806-1811. 



194 

Koberstein, Karl August. Geschichte der dcutschen Nation- 

alliteratur. Leipzig, 1872-73. 
Koch, Max. Ueber die Beziehungen der englischen Literatur 

zur deutschen im 18. Jahrhundert. Leipzig, 1883. 
Kurz, Heinrich. Geschichte der deutschen Literatur. Leip- 
zig, 1876-81. 
Leipziger Musen-Almanach. Leipzig, 1776-87. Editor, 1776- 

78, Friedrich Traugott Hase. 
Longo, Joseph. Laurence Sterne und Johann Georg Jacobi. 

Programm. Krems, 1898. 
Magazin der deutschen Critik. Halle, 1772- 1776. Edited by 

Gottlob Benedict Schirach. 
Mager, A. Wielands Nachlass des Diogenes von Sinope und 

das englische Vorbild. Abhandlung. Marburg, 1890. 
Meusel, Johann Georg. Das gelehrte Deutschland, oder Lex- 
icon der jetzt lebenden deutschen Schriftsteller. Lemgo, 

1 796- 1 806. 
Meusel, Johann Georg. Lexicon der von 1750 bis 1800 ver- 

storbenen teutschen Schriftsteller. Leipzig, 1802-16. 
Neue Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek. Kiel, 1793-1800. 

Edited by Bohn. Berlin und Stettin, 1801-1805. Edited 

by Nicolai. 
Neue Bibliothek der schonen Wissenschaften und der freyen 

Kiinste. Leipzig, 1765- 1806. Edited first by Chr. Felix 

Weisse, then by the publisher Dyk. 
Neue Critische Nachrichten. Greifswald, 1750- 1807. Editor 

from 1779 was Georg Peter Moller, professor of history at 

Greifswald. 
Neues Bremisches Magazin. Bremen, 1 766-1 771. 
Neue Ffallische Gelehrte Zeitung. Founded by Klotz in 1766, 

and edited by him 1766-71, then by Philipp Ernst Bertram, 

1772-77. 
Neue litterarische Unterhaltungen. Breslau, bey Korn der a 

1774-75- 
Neue Mannigfaltigkeiten. Eine gemeinniitzige Wochen- 
schrift, follows Mannigfaltigheiten which ran from Sept., 
1769 to May, 1773, and in June 1773, the new series began. 
Berlin. Vol. II, pp. 97-106. Life of Sterne. 



195 

Neue Zeitungen von Gelehrten Sachen. 171 5-1785. At the 
latter date the title was changed to Neue Litteratur 
Zeitung. Leipzig. 

Schmidt, Julian. Bilder aus dem geistigen Leben unserer 
Zeit. Leipzig, 1870. Vol. IV, 1875. Vol. IV, pp. 272 ff, 
Studien uber den Englischen Roman. 

Schmidt, Julian. Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur von 
Leibnitz bis auf unsere Zeit. Berlin, 1886-96. 

Schmidt, Julian. Geschichte des geistigen Lebens in Deutsch- 
land von Leibnitz bis auf Lessing's Tod, 1681-1781. Leip- 
zig, I, 1862 ; II, 1864. 

Schroder, Lexicon Hamburgischer Schriftsteller. Hamburg, 
1851-83, 8 vols. 

Springer, Robert. Essays zur Kritik und zur Goethe-Liter- 
atur. "War Goethe ein Plagiarius Lorenz Sternes?" 
Minden i. W., 1885. 

Teutscher Mercur. Weimar, 1773-89. And Neuer deutscher 
Merkur. Weimar, 1790-1810. Edited by Wieland, Rein- 
hold and Bottiger. 

Unterhaltungen. Hamburg bey Bock, 1767-70. Edited by 
J. J. Eschenburg, I-IV; Albrecht Wittenberg, V; Chris- 
toph Dan. Ebeling, VI-X. 

(Der) Wandsbecker Bothe. Edited by Matthias Claudius. 
Wandsbeck, 1771-75. 



INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 



Abbt, 43. 
Abel, J. F., 170. 
Addison, 157. 
Alberti, 26, 27, 46. 

Behrens, Johanna Friederike, 87. 
Benzler, J. L., 61, 62. 
Blankenburg, 5, 8, 139. 
Bock, Joh. Chr., 93, 127, 129-133, 

136. 
Bode, J. J. C, 15, 16, 24, 34, 37, 38, 

40-62, 67, 76, 90, 94, 106, 115. 
Bodmer, 75. 
Boie, 59, 131. 
Bondeli, Julie v., 30, 31. 
Bonstetten, 89. 
Bottiger, C. A., 38, 42-44, 48, 49, 

52, 58, 77, 81. 
Brandon, J., 82. 
Brockes, 37. 
Burney, Frances, 37. 
Burton, 77. 
Butler, 6, 29. 

Campe, J. H., 43, 164-166. 

Carr, John, 14. 

Cervantes, 6, 23, 26, 60, 168, 178. 

Chappelle, 35, 112. 

Claudius, 59, 133, 157-158. 

Combe, Win,, 69. 



Defoe, 3. 

Denis, 10, 75, 166. 

Draper, Eliza, 64-70, 



), 114, 176. 



Eberhard, 5. 

Ebert, 10, 26, 44-46, 59, 62. 



Eckermann, 98, 101, 104. 
Einsiedel, 59. 
Eschenburg, 2. 

Ferber, J. C. C, 84. 

Ferriar, 77, 78. 

Fielding, 4, 6, 10, 23, 58, 60, 96, 

145, 154- 
Forster, 12. 
Frenais, 60. 

Garrick, 66, 161. 

Garve, 22, 135. 

Gay, 92. 

Gebler, 90. 

Gellert, 32, 37, 120. 

Gellius, 76, 92. 

Gerstenberg, 59. 

Gleim, 2, 3, 59, 85-87, 112, 152. 

Gochhausen, 88, 140-144, 181. 

Gochhausen, Fraulein v., 59. 

Goeckingk, 162-3. 

Goethe, 40, 41, 59, 75, 77, 85, 91, 

97-109, 126, 153, 156, 167, 168, 

170, 180. 
Goeze, 27, 48. 
Goldsmith, 10, 98. 
Goschen, Georg. Joachim, 134-135. 
Griffith, Richard, 74-75. 
Grotthus, Sara v., 40-41. 

Hamann, 28, 29, 59, 69, 71, 97, 153. 

Hartknoch, 28, 32, 97. 

Hebbel, 88, 153- 

Hedemann, 136-138. 

Heine, H., 103. 

Heinse, 152. 



196 



197 



Herder, 5, 7, 8, 28, 29, 32, 59, 97, 

99, 156. 
Herder, Caroline Flachsland, 89, 

99, 152. 
Hermes, 2, 8, 109. 
Hippel, 6, 59, 101, 155. 
Hofmann, J. C, 88. 
Hopffgarten, 93. 
Hopfner, 69. 
Hume, 63. 

Ireland, 80. 

Jacobi, 59, 85-90, 112-114, 131, 136, 

139, 142, 143- 
Jung-Stilling, 99. 

Kastner, 30. 

Kaufmann, 88. 

Kirchberger, 30. 

Kirsten, 93. 

Klausing, A. E., 72. 

Klopstock, 37, 51, 59. 

Klotz, 21, 114. 

Knebel, 109, 152. 

Knigge, 91, 93, no, 154, 166. 

Kolbele, 52. 

Koran, 74-76, 92, 95, 103-108, 153. 

Kotzebue, 133-34. 

Krummacher, 153. 

Lenz, 152. 

Lessing, 24-28, 40-46, 59, 62, 77, 

97, 109, 156. 
Leuchsenring, 88. 
Lichtenberg, 4, 78, 84, 158-60. 
Liscow, 3, 24. 

Matthison, 60, 89, 152. 

de Medalle, Lydia Sterne, 64, 68, 

69. 
Medicus, Wilhelm Ludwig, 69. 
Mendelssohn, 24, 43, 109, no. 
Merck, 89, 90, 139. 
Meyer, Aug. Wilh., 83. 
Miller, J. M., 168, 170, 173, 180. 



Mittelstedt, 46-47, 55-57, 115. 

Montaigne, 60. 

Moritz, K. P., 168. 

Moser, 7, 166. 

Miichler, K. F., 79. 

Murray, Rev. James, 71. 

Musaus, 10, 91, 138, 152, 153, 158. 

Nicolai, 27, 40, 43, 77, 78, no; Se- 
baldus Nothanker, 6, 88, no, 
150. 

Nicolay, Ludwig Heinrich v., 158. 

Nonne, 93. 

Opitz, Christian, 127. 
Ossian, 10. 

Paterson, Sam'l, 79. 
Percy, Bishop, 2, 10. 

Raabe, Wilhelm, 153. 
Rabelais, 60. 
Rabenau, A. G. F., 138. 
Rahmel, A. W. L, 166. 
Ramler, 90. 

Richardson, 4, 10, 31, 43, 96, 179. 
Richter, Jean Paul, 75, 91, 155. 
Riedel, 29-30, 32, 54, 109, 125. 
la Roche, Sophie, 139. 
Rousseau, 4, 71. 

Sattler, J. P., 8. 
Schiller, 135, 153. 
Schink, J. F, 80-82. 
Schirach, 109. 
Schmidt, Klamer, 60. 
Schubart, 107. 

Schummel, 59, 93, 1 14-129, 136, 140. 
Schwager, 138. 
Seidelinn, 153. 
Shadwell, 25. 
Smollett, 63. 
Sonnenfels, 125. 
Stephanie, d. j., 153. 
Stevenson, J. H., 44-53,57,64,81, 
105. 



198 



Stolberg, 61. 

Sturz, 160-162. 

Swift, 69, 146. 157, 160. 

v. Thummel, 93, 135, 155. 
Timme, 168-179. 

Usteri, 30. 

Wagner, H. L., 41, 157. 
Wegener, 150-15 1. 
Weisse, Chr. Felix, 68. 
Wezel, no, 138, 144-150, 179-181. 



Wieland, 10, 14, 31, 32, 42, 59, 61, 

73, 90, 93-99, 103, 146, 156, 181. 
Wilkes, 64. 
Wittenberg, 53, 87. 
v. Wolzogen, 153. 

Young, 7, 10, 149-150. 

Zelter, 98, 102. 

Ziegler, Louise v. (Lila), 89. 
Zimmermann, 31, 59. 
Ziickert, 12-18, 22, 31, 32, 37, 58- 
60, 99. 



y'09 



j-Oi 



• 



COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY GERMANIC STUDIES 
Vol. II. No. I. 



LAURENCE STERNE 
IN GERMANY 



A Contribution to the Study of the 
Literary Relations of England and 
Germany in the Eighteenth Century 



by 



HARVEY WATERMAN THAYER, Ph.D. 

SOMETIME FELLOW IN GERMANIC LANGUAGES AND 
LITERATURES, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 




THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 

The Macmillan Company, Agents 

London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd. 

1905 

All rights reserved 



COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY GERMANIC 
STUDIES 

Edited by William H. Carpenter and Calvin Thomas 

Vol. I 

No. i. SCANDINAVIAN INFLUENCE ON SOUTH- 
ERN LOWLAND SCOTCH. A Contribution to 
the Study of the Linguistic Relations of English and 
Scandinavian. By George Tobias Flom, Ph.D. 8vo, 
paper, pp. xv+82. Price, $1.00 net. 

No. 2. OSSIAN IN GERMANY. Bibliography, General 
Survey, Ossian's Influence on Klopstock and the Bards. 
By Rudolf Tombo, Jr., Ph.D. 8vo, paper, pp. iv + 
157. Price, $1.00 net. 

No. 3. THE INFLUENCE OF OLD NORSE LITERA- 
TURE UPON ENGLISH LITERATURE. By 
Conrad Hjalmar Nordby. 8vo, paper, pp. xi+78. 
Price, $1.00 net. 

No. 4. THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA AND PERSIA 
ON THE POETRY OF GERMANY. By Ar- 
thur F. J. Remy, Ph.D. 8vo, paper, pp. xi + 81. 
Price, $1.00 net. 

Vol. II 

No. 1. LAURENCE STERNE IN GERMANY. A Con- 
tribution to the Study of the Literary Relations of 
England and Germany in the Eighteenth Century. 
By Harvey Waterman Thayer, Ph.D. 8vo, paper. 
Price, $1.00 net. 

No. 2. TYPES OF WELTSCHMERZ IN GERMAN 
POETRY. By Wilhelm Alfred Braun, Ph.D. 
8vo, paper. Price, $1.00 net. 



C 49 8 9 » 













£ -of 






- o , , * .A <» 



_^» t «« 0„^ %£ 
















A 9^ 



V> 'o . » • /v <. 

\'-y^'''y v V'*^'V V'^'V 1 " °° 

• ^\vJpLa//>° v*«V o ^j p*»| |^ *• >.^' • £NY« Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 

Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: March 2009 

;<^ : ^^\^. tl ./V*•-•\< s o01 ,^V , " PreservationTechnologies 

>0 j"2v . _s^ttv <" *£ A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

5fe" 'Kt* A ^ <* 'J*UM%%> * «. -V * ^^ll^^ ^6 111 Thomson Park Drive 

^" ^* O •jtylntfW^''' ^> p °'^^T^^" > **" Cranberry Township, PA 16066 




V--' / 









; 3SP! ; «#*% °-?wv ** v % %I11K ; ^\ *. 

^ <-°^*> y^Ji&frS. **iafc?°* /& 









V'^V '\*^\/ V' 7 ^ o V 

<* V <TVT* G* 



y -f>X- <v* ■<vSw?v \'^'V %*™v* 

**>••• i * ■ ^ °a ° - ° A, ^ • ' ' *? °4, *• ' 

^.**. 14-1 1 a v ^ c*^. 



HECKMAN |±| 
BINDERY INC. |«| 

^ JAN 89 

N. MANCHESTER, 









